Pipeline as a Place of Theft of Oil and its Products

Abstract

Generalization of judicial practice, conducted by the author, showed, that the only one blanket
method establishing signs of special pipelines, listed in Article 158 (part 3, paragraph «b»)
of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, often leads to contradictory results in similar legal
situations. This article analyzes the causes of some problems in the application of criminal norms
protecting special pipeline transport.
In order to eliminate theoretical and practical discrepancies in the definition of the signs
of pipelines listed in the rule establishing liability for theft, and to unify law enforcement practice,
the author proposes, in particular, to exclude all references to any pipelines from the specified criminal norm. Also, further counteraction to criminal encroachments on oil pipelines, oil product
pipelines, and other chemically hazardous transport facilities is proposed to be carried out only
within the framework of Article 215.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.