The paper addresses the challenge of the application of criminal law in cross-border metaverses. Conventional principles (territoriality, citizenship) and existing interpretations from the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation are found to be ineffective in the aterritorial digital environment. This creates a jurisdictional vacuum, threatens digital sovereignty, and leads to the dominance of lex informatica (private law regulation of platforms). The article critically assesses existing approaches and proposes new solutions. Among them is the introduction of the effect doctrine (based on the place where the essential consequences occur), a grounding mechanism for IT operators, distribution jurisdiction (control over app stores), and the concept of digital persona sovereignty (state-verified avatar) to ensure criminal law protection of citizens’ rights.
metaverse; spatial application of criminal law; conflicts of jurisdiction; digital sovereignty; decentralization; distribution jurisdiction; digital persona sovereignty; avatar; human digital twin; deanonymization.