Business ombudsman Pavel Solodky reported on his work for the year 2025.

      On April 23, 2026, 19:58 Economy On April 22, a meeting of the committee on economy, industry, support for entrepreneurship, trade, and tourism was held in the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Deputies heard a report from the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Pavel Solodky, on the results of activities for 2025. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Chairman of the regional parliament, Denis Bakiyev.

      In total, in 2025, the Commissioner worked on 289 appeals: 199 were received in the reporting year, and work on 90 complex appeals (mostly court cases) continued from previous years.

      Throughout the year, work was completed on 220 complaints from entrepreneurs, with 50% of cases resulting in the full restoration of the applicants' violated rights.

      Entrepreneurs most often faced problems in the area of placing non-stationary trade facilities; for non-fulfillment of obligations under state and municipal contracts by the customer; and based on the results of inspections by supervisory authorities.

      "Moreover, this year there was a significant number of so-called criminal appeals – 23. But in most of these cases, it is not about prosecuting entrepreneurs under economic articles, but rather requests from the entrepreneurs themselves to initiate criminal cases against fraudsters of whom they have become victims. These can be either unscrupulous company employees or suppliers. And unfortunately, businesses often face bureaucratic red tape when trying to defend their rights," noted Pavel Solodky.

      In order to restore and protect the legal rights of entrepreneurs in 2025, the Commissioner participated in 75 court proceedings on 32 cases, sent 42 appeals to the prosecutor's office for inspections and holding guilty officials accountable both disciplinarily and administratively, and quarterly visited detention centers to check the conditions of detention for accused and convicted entrepreneurs.

      Public assistants to the Commissioner conducted over 3,000 consultations on legal issues in 2025, organized and held 110 events on issues related to the activities of business entities in various fields.

      Among the achievements in the work for 2025, the Commissioner noted the elimination of debts to entrepreneurial structures under state and municipal contracts amounting to over 64 million rubles and the prevention of fines totaling 5.6 million rubles.

      "Pavel Solodky performs his duties as the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights in the region with high quality. We are in constant contact, and the committee often turns to him on the most complex issues. He participates in prosecutor's councils to timely express the position of Nizhny Novgorod businesses and helps prevent excessive pressure on entrepreneurs. When discussing sensitive topics such as alcohol market regulation or combating vapes, his consultations always make the discussion substantive and help find balanced solutions. This is very important work for protecting the interests of legitimate businesses," emphasized Igor Norenkov, Chairman of the Committee of the Regional Parliament on Economy, Industry, Support for Entrepreneurship, Trade, and Tourism.

      The Commissioner also noted that 2026 will be a challenging year for businesses due to the unstable exchange rate, increasing tax burden, and uncertainty in economic forecasts, and therefore called on deputies to work together to develop possible measures to support entrepreneurs at the regional level. Igor Norenkov instructed to make the corresponding additions to the committee's work plan.

      The report of the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights will be discussed at the meeting of the Legislative Assembly on April 30.

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