The paper describes major translation techniques that are used when the target language lacks a translation equivalent (in English to Russian translation). The equivalence is regarded from a broad perspective, i.e. the paper analyzes the translation of culture-specific words and the translation of grammatical structures that do not have an equivalent structure in the target language. As for the lexical aspect, the absence of a translation equivalent seems highly relevant for legal texts due to differences in the legal systems. At the grammatical level, the problem in question may have a duplicitous nature. The target language may lack a similar grammatical structure or there may be a functional discrepancy between similar structures. The authors come to the conclusion that in order to overcome interlingual asymmetry one should apply the Interpretive Theory of Translation. Moreover, the overall strategy is to use explication as a translation technique as the Russian language seems to be more substantive in describing a situation. The research findings may be used to extend theoretical assumptions of the translation theory and to provide practical recommendations.