The problem of state support for business is the most important in today’s conditions. The cataclysms that have occurred recently have affected the world economy. The world has ceased to be balanced. Business froze in fear of inevitable bankruptcy, unemployment and ruin. Political changes in Russia, which began in January 2020, the drop in oil prices, the collapse of the ruble, which followed the relative stability of the Russian national currency and reached the pandemic country, negatively affected business in the country. The development of urgent state measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises is the only way to maintain its viability. These measures should be based on a clear regulatory framework that does not allow vague interpretations and legal incidents. Using the comparative legal method, it is necessary to draw the experience of those countries in which there is a state policy in relation to small and medium-sized businesses, which is a system of socio-economic actions built on the principle of ensuring the favorable development of this sector of the economy and to develop measures that can preserve it in conditions of prevailing force majeure. The aim of this work is a comparative analysis of measures taken by the world community and Russia to support small and medium-sized businesses during the economic crisis caused by Covid19. Particular attention is paid to the legislative justification of measures taken in Russia and the identification of shortcomings of the newly adopted normative legal acts.