The State Duma proposed protecting homebuyers from the "Dolina effect".

      The initiative concerns the so‑called "Dolina effect" — situations in which a seller, having been the victim of fraudsters, tries in court to have the transaction declared invalid. In practice, buyers often have to prove their own good faith.

      Amendments are proposed to Article 179 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The authors note that its current wording leads to conflicting case law, despite clarifications by the Supreme Court that a bona fide buyer cannot be deprived of housing.

      The bill explicitly provides that if the buyer did not know and could not have known about third parties' deception of the seller, the transaction cannot be declared invalid. The burden of proving that the buyer was aware of the fraud is proposed to be placed on the seller.

      The case of singer Larisa Dolina prompted discussion of such changes: the Supreme Court ultimately refused to annul the transaction, although lower courts had earlier sided with the seller.