Digital law: artificial intelligence and digital assets

In the summer of 2026 Russia's digital economy acquired a legal framework of its own. On 26 July the first Russian statute on artificial intelligence was signed — Federal Law No. 243-FZ on support for the development of AI technologies; on 4 August came Federal Law No. 282-FZ on digital currencies and digital rights. Both take effect in stages from 1 September 2026, and both are already surrounded by alarming retellings.

Our approach is simple: first we establish which rules concern you and which do not. The AI law, despite the headlines, is addressed above all to developers of large foundation models, not to every company with a chatbot. Law No. 282-FZ, by contrast, genuinely reshapes the market for everyone who deals in cryptocurrency: registers kept by the Bank of Russia, limits for investors, a ban on systematic peer-to-peer schemes. Where the fear is fashionable and where processes really do need rebuilding — we say so plainly at the first meeting.

Artificial intelligence

• Audit AI services and products: whether you fall within Federal Law No. 243-FZ of 26 July 2026, what the personal data law (No. 152-FZ) and the rules on recommendation algorithms (No. 408-FZ) require, and which obligations arrive on 1 March 2027.
• Draft contracts for AI development and deployment: who owns the model and the generated output, who answers for errors and hallucinations, and on what terms datasets are licensed and rights to training data are cleared.
• Organise personal data handling in model training and use: the legal bases for processing, anonymisation under Federal Law No. 233-FZ, and cross-border transfers where foreign AI services are involved.
• Deal with rights in AI-generated content: the courts already treat generated material as copyright works where there is human creative input (case No. А40-200471/2023) — we help both to protect your rights and to avoid infringing others'.
• Write internal policies on staff use of neural networks — so that trade secrets and client data do not leave the company inside a prompt.
• Conduct AI-related disputes: claims against contractors and from customers, data leaks, use of a person's image or voice without consent.

Digital assets

• Structure transactions in digital financial assets and digital currency: issuance and acquisition of DFAs under Federal Law No. 259-FZ of 31 July 2020, and cryptocurrency dealings under the new rules of Federal Law No. 282-FZ of 4 August 2026 — through regulated participants, within the limits and requirements set by the Bank of Russia.
• Support mining operations: entry in the Federal Tax Service register under Federal Law No. 221-FZ of 8 August 2024, regional bans and restrictions, reporting on the currency received, and structuring its sale.
• Handle tax matters under Federal Law No. 418-FZ of 29 November 2024: setting up the accounting of digital currency transactions (Article 282.3 of the Tax Code), declarations, defence against additional assessments and disputes with the Federal Tax Service.
• Work with cryptocurrency in insolvency on both sides: tracing assets and bringing them into the insolvency estate for creditors, defence and proper disclosure for the debtor, and challenges to digital currency transactions.
• Advise on the division of digital assets in divorce and on their inheritance: proving who controls a wallet, interim relief, valuation, succession planning.
• Defend clients whose accounts are frozen under the anti-money-laundering law (Federal Law No. 115-FZ of 7 August 2001) over cryptocurrency operations: analysing the bank's grounds, preparing documents and explanations, running disputes and applications to the interdepartmental commission.

Typical situations

• You built a third-party AI service into your customer product, it produced an error — and the claim lands on you, not on the developer.
• A foreign buyer is ready to pay in cryptocurrency, and you need to know how to run that settlement lawfully under a cross-border trade contract.
• Your debtor has gone into insolvency, and the money, judging by the bank statements, was long ago converted into cryptocurrency on unknown wallets.
• The bank has frozen the company's account under the anti-money-laundering law after a series of peer-to-peer transfers, and operations have stopped.
• Your marketing team generates content with neural networks, and nobody knows who owns the rights to it or whether it can be used in advertising.

Commercial disputes in Russia are heard by the arbitrazh courts — the state commercial courts, not private arbitration tribunals; disputes involving individuals go to the courts of general jurisdiction.