Abstract: the right of the accused to defense was provided for in the first legislative acts of Soviet Russia, and then the USSR, but the problems of its implementation were repeatedly discussed by scientists and practitioners on the pages of specialized publications. Today, many issues of ensuring the right to protection are still being discussed, and proposals are being made to change radically the legislation in this area. However, many scientists, justifying their theses, do not take into account that a few decades ago, such proposals were expressed and rejected not so much for ideological reasons, but due to the inconsistency of the general theory of law and the nature of the criminal process. In this regard, the study and analysis of opinions and justifications of scientists of the Soviet period on many issues is of significant scientific and practical interest for modern researchers. The aim of this work is to present the most current perspective of the authors of the Soviet period unresolved at present, the participation of the defender in criminal proceedings of Russia, and also perform them with the matching modern trends. The practical significance of the work consists in the possibility of using the formulated conclusions in the study of issues of ensuring the right to protection, as well as in improving the criminal procedure legislation of the Russian Federation.
Keywords: solicitor, lawyer, participants in criminal proceedings, proof, criminal procedural relations, criminal proceedings