Current State and Development Prospects of Russian Legislation on Sustainable Development in the Digital Era.

Abstract

In recent decades, the concept of sustainable development has increasingly been reflected in both foreign and Russian public law. The readiness of the domestic legal system to develop and implement its own   principles for applying this concept as well as to incorporate provisions from international instruments has grown significantly. A precursor to this work was the environmental legislation of the Soviet Union, which played an active role in the early stages of the global process to establish and widely adopt the sustainable development framework. Notably, despite the extremely challenging domestic political and economic situation in the 1990s, Russia adopted a presidential decree approving the Concept of Transition to Sustainable Development. This paper highlights key stages in the evolution of relevant legislation and examines the factors shaping its formation and effectiveness. A sustainable development model requires processing vast amounts of data and accounting for numerous variables that can only be planned and executed effectively through the digitalization of governance tools. A fresh perspective on sustainable development that broadens its interpretation and accelerates its integration into Russian law involves exploring the potential alignment, even equivalence, between the concepts of «national security» and «sustainable development». Security cannot exist without progress; stagnation poses significant threats to statehood, while sustainability inherently includes protection against diverse risks. Advancing these ideas could stimulate legal scholarship and practical efforts to expand and deepen sustainable development legislation.