UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 27, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region’s investigative authorities registered 267 crimes related to Article 145.1 of Russia’s Criminal Code (non-payment of wages/salaries for over two months) in the first half of the year, which exceeded the number for the first half of 2015 by 64%, Sverdlovsk Region Prosecutor’s Office reports.

70% of registered crimes were detected due to employees filing their complaints. Thirty-seven criminal lawsuits were instituted as a result (compared with twenty-seven one year earlier).

‘Particularly worrying is the fact that some of the criminal lawsuits and the need to repay the money involve insolvent enterprises that either have been declared bankrupt or had their assets seized based on a court order,’ the office says.