Novaya-Europe compiled accounts from lawyers and former students describing how relations function in and around Russia’s judicial system in practice. Formally, the law requires judges to avoid conduct that undermines the authority of the courts or casts doubt on their impartiality.
Lawyer Irina told the outlet about a case in Krasnodar’s Prikubansky District Court involving a dispute between a real-estate agency and a client. According to her, the judge rudely interrupted the defendant and demanded that he pay, and after the hearing, which ended with a ruling in the agency’s favor, handed her his phone number and asked for help selling a plot of land he owned.
Entrepreneur Mikhail described a similar episode at the Krasnodar Region Arbitration Court. He said judge Stanislav Dub reacted sharply when he explained that he had missed the first hearing for personal reasons. The article notes that in 2024 the judge resigned.
The report also recalls the case of judge Aleksei Shevchenko: in 2018, a recording of a conversation in which he used obscene language appeared online. He later apologized, but the qualification board did not allow him to leave voluntarily and terminated his powers for a disciplinary offense.
The authors also describe allegations concerning recruitment and educational practices. A former Kuban State University student, Aleksandra, says that while the faculty was headed by Viktor Momotov, some state-funded places went to people admitted through personal connections. The text notes that on October 14, 2025, Moscow’s Ostankino Court ordered the confiscation of more than 100 real-estate assets linked to him; the Prosecutor General’s Office valued the assets at at least 9 billion rubles.
The article also mentions resignations of judges that sources and commentators suggest may have been linked to conflict with the system. Those named include former Constitutional Court judge Konstantin Aranovsky, as well as judges Tatyana Leskina and Sergei Mamaev. The piece concludes that behind the formal language of respect for the court are recurring stories of rudeness, dependence, and pressure.