Authors of "Smuta" accused of violating labor laws — Cyberia Nova denies everything
Promo artist for "Smuta," Dmitry Solyanik-Krasa, has filed a lawsuit against Cyberia Nova. He claims that he worked at the studio for over two years, but the labor process had violations.
“Zemsky Sobor”
According to Solyanik-Krasa, the collaboration developed as follows:
- in the lawsuit, Solyanik-Krasa stated that he joined Cyberia Nova at the end of 2023. According to the specialist, at that time, he did not have a military ID, so the studio did not sign an employment contract but suggested working under a civil law contract (CLC) until the document was returned.
- if Solyanik-Krasa is to be believed, the CLC was signed only a month after he actually started working on "Smuta." Subsequently, Cyberia Nova periodically sent him documents by mail to extend the contract;
- in July 2024, Solyanik-Krasa regained his military ID. In the lawsuit, he wrote that he hoped to officially become part of the team, so he reminded the studio of the promise to sign an employment contract, but Cyberia Nova preferred to avoid answering and left everything as it was;
- the following summer, the studio sent documents to extend the CLC for the last time. As Solyanik-Krasa pointed out, although the contract was not renewed since then, he was still assigned work tasks — and was paid a salary as well;
- the collaboration finally ended in February 2026, when Solyanik-Krasa was called with a notice of his layoff.
Solyanik-Krasa is now asking the court to recognize the relationship between him and Cyberia Nova as employment rather than civil law. As evidence, he noted in the lawsuit that he worked according to a fixed schedule and received a salary for it, not based on the amount of work completed. Moreover, he was required to attend meetings, and his name was included in the vacation schedule. Although the promo artist claims he never actually took a vacation and did not receive the due compensation after dismissal.
Representatives of Cyberia Nova, commenting to App2Top, denied the accusations. The studio stated that both parties agreed to cooperate under the CLC as it was the most convenient, particularly due to different time zones. The decision to terminate the collaboration with Solyanik-Krasa was due to the completion of the active promo campaign of "Zemsky Sobor," a spin-off of "Smuta."
Cyberia Nova emphasized that it "always acts strictly within the legal framework" and that the CLC was not a way to avoid taxes. It paid all the due taxes and insurance contributions to the state treasury just like it would have under an employment contract.
Here is Cyberia Nova's comment in full:
"The cooperation with Dmitry Solyanik-Krasa was carried out under civil law contracts and was related to the execution of marketing tasks for the projects "Smuta" and "Zemsky Sobor." This interaction format was chosen by the parties as optimal, including consideration of the performer's location in a different time zone, which hindered integration into the company's standard work schedule.
On its part, the company provided all conditions for work execution and result documentation according to the contract terms. It is important to note that under the CLC, the company fully fulfilled its obligations to pay all taxes and insurance contributions, whose amounts are identical to those under an employment contract.
Since the CLC format presumes payment for specific results, such employment law categories as "layoff" or "vacation pay" are legally not applicable to these relationships. The termination of cooperation was related to the end of the active phase of the final project's promo campaign, of which the performer was duly notified.
The company always acts strictly within the legal framework. We are currently conducting an internal review of all circumstances. We will provide more detailed comments upon completion of this process."