In the study criminal and legal characteristic of the abuse of official power are discussed; low solvability of this category of crimes; the gaps in standard and legal regulation of the questions connected with the definition of basic concepts of the structure of abusement of powers of official authori- ties influencing the formation of various legal positions in courts decisions. The growth of the number of appeals of citizens to various federal, regional and municipal government bodies happening annually sharply raises the question of ensuring the protection of citizens against the manifestations of corruption made by officials on service. According to the Prosecutor Gen- eral's Office of the Russian Federation in 2013 3084 crimes were committed according to Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in 2014 2280 crimes were registered, 2331 crimes were observed in 2015, andin 2016 there were 2352 crimes, 2017 - 2237 crimes, in 2018 - 2182 crimes. The crisis lasting in the economy of Russia for some years, the unbalance of economic sector of economy created conditions for the manifestation of var- ious forms of abuse of official position which demands from investigating authorities accurate and coordinated actions directed to their identification and prevention. The investigation of abuse of powers of office has specifics caused by the features of the subject of the crime, the sphere in which illegal act is made by the level of counteraction to the consequence. Considering that abuse of powers of office has steadily typical features and possesses the ability to be repeated is reasonable to focus the attention on the considera- tion of this structure from criminal and legal point of view.