Coercion or Extortion? (On the Problems of Delimiting Articles 179 and 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

The article discusses the issues of distinguishing two types of crimes: extortion (Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and coercion to complete a transaction or to refuse to complete it (Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the objective parties of which have a certain similarity, which gives rise to problems of qualification to take possession of the right to someone else’s property or commit other property actions. The practice of applying the norms in question is analyzed, the author points out the qualification errors in this kind of criminal cases, both at the stage of preliminary investigation and judicial examination. It is proposed to give an appropriate explanation of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.