The Criminalistic Category of “Counteraction to Investigation” and Its Specific Features in Relation to Crimes Committed by Members of the Elite

The article focuses on one of the most debatable issues in Russian criminalistics related to shaping the contents of the criminalistic scientific category of “counteraction to investigation”. The author examines a number of complex aspects of the theory of counteracting crime investigation from the standpoint of its correspondence to the current norms of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, as well as the actual situation of fighting elite crimes, and presents arguments in support of his position (regarding the stages of criminal proceedings, the essence, contents, and direction of such work). The conducted empirical analysis allowed the author to point out the scenarios of counteracting criminal proceedings that are common for this type of criminal activities (disrupting investigative and other procedural actions; damaging or destroying evidence; influencing the witnesses or the victims; influencing persons with special knowledge; collusion with the investigator; threats of physical harm, blackmailing officials involved in criminal proceedings; discrediting evidence, the results of operative search activities and evidence, as well the personality of the investigator). The author enumerates measures aimed at the minimization of these destructive phenomena.