In Russia, personal funds constitute one of the newest organizational and legal forms of legal entities that was introduced into the Civil Code on 1 March 2022. Personal funds have a specific legal status that combines, in essence, both the characteristics of a non-profit organization — traditional funds that have long been known to the Russian legal order, and the characteristics of a commercial organization whose main purpose is to make a profit and pay it to beneficiaries. Some features of personal funds allow them to be correlated with «AngloSaxon» trusts or private foundations of continental legal systems. The paper analyzes the legal status of personal funds, as well as problems and prospects for the development of legislation in this area. The paper substantiates the proposal to exclude control by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation at the stage of foundation creation and to strengthen notarial «control» over the foundations’ documents and the correctness of their changes by notaries. It is proposed to give a personal fund the legal status of a qualified investor. The authors argue the need to exclude from the list of information that cannot constitute a trade secret, information on the size and structure of income of a personal foundation, on the size and composition of property, on expenses, etc.

The study examines the controversial issues of protecting the personal data of patients who receive medical care (medical services) using telemedicine technologies in Russia. Taking into account the analysis of domestic legislation, doctrinal sources, current judicial practice, as well as local acts of specific organizations, attention is drawn to existing terminological problems, the limited scope of telemedicine technologies, the risks of violating medical secrecy in the digital environment and the gap in legislation in this area, the formal approach of medical organizations to the processing of personal data of patients, and the lack of a unified centralized information infrastructure that ensures the interaction of patients and medical workers receiving medical care, both in medical organizations subordinate to federal executive authorities, executive bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, and in private medical organizations created by legal entities and individuals. Based on the results of the study, the authors elucidate the basic principles and directions for improving the legal regulation of the protection of personal data of patients in the provision of medical care (services) using telemedicine technologies in order to reduce the risks of violation of medical confidentiality. 

The paper distinguishes the categories of a virtual and digital object of civil turnover. The author determines qualifying signs that allow us to assert the non-identity of the designated definitions. From the point of view of the conclusions drawn, the paper systematizes objects of civil turnover in the electronic environment. Digital (digital rights, including digital financial assets and utilitarian digital rights, electronic money, digital ruble) and virtual (digital currency) objects are distinguished. The necessity of establishing a different legal regime for the selected categories is substantiated. A comparison of the legal relations that develop during the turnover of «traditional» and «digital» objects allows us to identify similarities and fundamental differences: interaction is carried out in the information environment by a means that promotes the exercise of rights and duties; subjects are located geographically in different places and may have different jurisdictions; although subjects undergo identification, as a rule It is impossible to establish their identity; legal relations may be influenced by entities that have rights to information platforms (operators). The range of participants in the digital legal relationship is wider than the «traditional» one. It can include entities that provide access to network protocols and web services, and information intermediaries, etc. It is proved that the mechanism of legal regulation directly depends on the type of ownership of the object of civil turnover, and not on whether it belongs to the category of digital or virtual objects. 

The paper is devoted to the problem of criminal law counteraction to activities related to the digital infrastructure of terrorism, which has been insufficiently developed in the theory of criminal law. The author formulates the concept of such an infrastructure, highlights its elements. The paper argues for the need for a fundamental separation of such categories as cyberterrorism and the digital infrastructure of terrorism. Based on the concept of proactive crime prevention, the author proposes specific measures aimed at establishing responsibility for actions related to the support of the digital infrastructure of terrorism. The author makes the following proposals: 1) developing a mechanism for deciding that the activities of a foreign or international organization are related to the support of terrorism; 2) establishing criminal liability for participation in activities, as well as for establishing or maintaining cooperation with a foreign or international organization in respect of which a decision has been made to recognize its activities aimed at supporting terrorism.

With the advent of the institution of a pre-trial cooperation agreement in Russian criminal and criminal procedure law, disputes about the need for its introduction and use in Russian criminal proceedings have not subsided. After all, a pre-trial cooperation agreement is an attempt to introduce into continental criminal proceedings, to which the Russian one belongs, an institution traditional for the Anglo-Saxon criminal process. In the paper, the author argues that this institution is not alien to the Russian criminal process, has already found its place in it, and judicial practice confirms that it is to a certain extent incorporated into the modern Russian criminal process. At the same time, taking into account the legal nature of the Russian criminal process, we consider it possible to supplement the special procedure provided for in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation for making a judicial decision when making a pre-trial cooperation agreement with the right of the court at a court hearing to investigate the issues of evidence of the act that is incriminated to the person who concluded the pre-trial cooperation agreement, to the extent that the court deems necessary and sufficient for passing a fair, reasonable and lawful sentence, and then assessing the extent of his cooperation with the investigation. In our opinion, the institution of a pre-trial cooperation agreement provides great opportunities for a voluntary, non-confrontational, peaceful settlement of a criminal conflict within the framework of criminal proceedings and is one of the tools of the compensatory model of criminal proceedings we suggest.

The formation of a system of criminal law protection of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values can be considered as an actual and independent direction of the criminal policy of the State. Its legitimacy and effectiveness are directly determined by the degree of implementation of constitutional standards and principles of regulation of criminal law relations in the normative and law enforcement decisions adopted by the State. The constitutionalization of criminal policy in the field of protection of traditional values requires not only compliance with general principles: the use of criminal law as a last resort, proportionality, legal certainty, justice, differentiation of responsibility, humanism, etc. It necessarily involves solving the difficult task of specifying other, meaningfully specific principles of the embodiment of traditional values in legislation and practice of its application in the field of criminal law regulation. Among such principles, ensuring constitutional identity, balance of constitutional values, and solidarity of society are of primary importance. The first principle is embodied, in particular, in Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in the differentiation of criminal liability for sexual acts against minors, depending on the type of this action (Parts 1 and 2 of Articles 134 of the Criminal Code). Articles 354.1, 144.1–145.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can serve as examples of the normative consolidation of the solidarity of the society. In turn, the search for a balance of constitutional values is carried out at all stages of the creation and application of a criminal law norm, taking into account specific historical conditions and based on ideas about constitutional identity.

The paper analyzes the activities of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation in the field of international cooperation on the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms from theoretical and practical standpoints. The author pays special attention to the place and role of the institution of the public defender of human rights during armed conflicts. The author considers state human rights activities related to international cooperation in the field of human rights in the context of the following four main sections: interaction with international organizations; cooperation with ombudsmen of foreign countries; protection of the rights of Russian citizens abroad; protection of the rights of foreign citizens located on the territory of the Russian Federation. The paper analyzes such new formats of state human rights activities as conducting a dialogue with the ombudsmen of «unfriendly states» with which there are no diplomatic relations, including during armed conflicts, on issues of assistance to Russian citizens whose rights are violated on the territory of these states; organizing work on family reunification, who find themselves on different sides of the contact line; the Ombudsman’s participation in the exchange of prisoners carried out by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the search for missing persons during armed conflicts; mutual visits to prisoners with ombudsmen of foreign states and the organization of the transfer of parcels for them from relatives; interaction of the Commissioner with the International Committee of the Red Cross on assistance in visiting prisoners, searching for missing servicemen; the Commissioner’s interaction with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in providing assistance to citizens evacuated to Russia. The proposals for improving the normative legal regulation of the activities of a state human rights defender in international cooperation, including during inter-state conflicts, both at the national and international levels, are substantiated.

The paper describes the category of «religious security». As there is no legal definition, the author reveals its doctrinal meaning and content. On the basis of a systematic interpretation of the norms of law governing security issues, it is proved that freedom of conscience should be considered as the most important element of the mechanism for ensuring religious security, that is, as its object. In modern society, there are a number of negative factors and trends cultivated based on religion, which pose threats to religious security in general and to its objects individually. For example, religious extremism, which is a significant obstacle to the realization of freedom of conscience, being one of such. The author investigates two key approaches to understanding freedom of conscience — restrictive and expansive. Given that freedom of conscience is not equivalent to freedom of religion, it is stated that this legal institution has positive and negative connotations. It is the presence of this circumstance that determines the specifics of freedom of conscience as an object of religious security. It is concluded that in this capacity it can act only when its implementation does not go beyond the limits of permissible behavior and does not pose a threat of violation of other rights and legally protected interests of the individual, society and the state.

The paper is devoted to testing the hypothesis that scientific concepts of the development of Russian legislation (hereinafter Concepts)—a series of studies conducted by scientists of the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation—are an achievement of academic science, as stated in the title of the topic of the 11th All-Russian Annual Meeting of Legal Theorists (Moscow, IZiSP, February 28, 2024) by its organizers. The reason for setting this scientific task was a significant event for the Russian scientific community — the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The anniversary of the country’s main scientific center set the tone and became the leitmotif of many scientific discussions and forums. 

The context of the role of academic science, its past, present and future has become the basis for discussing many modern problems and evaluating the results of scientific research. From this point of view, the paper examines the Concepts, substantiates the conclusion about the academic nature of the doctrinal knowledge presented in them, and marks the reference points that serve as a guideline for understanding and evaluating the scientific component of the results of legal and state studies.

The paper examines the life path of Georgiy K. Gins (1887–1971) and the formation of his political and legal ideas, which complemented the general solidaristic doctrine on law and the state. The study of the scientist’s solidarity views was conducted based on his writings on various problems of law, politics and economics. The work also traces the activities of G. K. Gins in the state authorities of the Russian Empire, in the Provisional Government and anti-Bolshevik state formations. The work shows how the crisis of power of the Provisional Government, and later the collapse of the anti-Bolshevik regimes during the Civil War forced G. K. Gins to reconsider his views on liberal democracy and abandon it in favor of solidarity.

The study made it possible to trace the formation of state-legal views of G. K. Gins before he adopted the ideology of solidarity. The paper presents the types of state participation in the national economy formulated by the scientist, the concept of coordination law. It is important to note that his understanding of administrative law is in many ways similar to the modern «service concept» developing within this industry. The solidaristic doctrine of law and the state, which was developed by G. K. Gins, is an undoubted asset of Russian political and legal thought. 

Russian legal science has not studied the phenomenon of the ancient Russian legal civilization much. This gap impoverishes historical and legal knowledge about the origins of Russian statehood, originating in the early Middle Ages. In order to eliminate the conceptual vacuum in the issues of the genesis of Kievan Rus, the author scrutinizes the features of the legal culture of the East Slavic state of Rurikovich. The legal consciousness of the ancient Russian people had a syncretic structure, formed in an attempt to synchronize pagan and Christian ideas about law and justice. The uniqueness of the legal life of Kievan Rus consisted in the long-term dominance of private interest in all branches of law. For example, the traditional system of succession to the throne organically grew out of the ideas of collective ownership of the ruling family not only for patrimonial (mainly land) property, but also for sovereign power. The correlation of princely powers with the veche rights of the people in different ancient Russian regions has acquired specific public law features: from the absolute sovereignty of the Veche in Vyatka to autocratic rule in the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. In Kievan Rus, they valued the written law, respected international treaties, customs and judicial decisions. They would chose princes and drew up political and legal agreements with them that strictly defined rights and duties. As judicial evidence, they continued to use the oath, trial by iron and lot, used judicial duel; not only representatives of the nobility were involved in the administration of justice, but also and free community members. Ancient Russian legal values, ideals and the practice of their implementation allow us to talk about the existence of a separate ancient Russian legal civilization.

The paper presents the results of a study of some collections of archival documents that have different values and significance for studying certain areas of activity of the Cheka bodies at the local level. For the first time, archival materials introduced into scientific circulation demonstrate those areas of activity of the Cheka bodies that are still insufficiently covered by science. These, in particular, include extrajudicial practice, rulemaking in the field of criminal, criminal procedure law, solving operational and official tasks, implementing punitive measures, their interaction with other Soviet authorities and institutions locally. At the same time, they reveal some important organizational and legal features, problems of the formation and functioning of the state mechanism of Bolshevik Russia in wartime conditions. The classification and analysis of archival documents characterizing certain areas of activity of the Cheka bodies at the local level provide a deeper understanding of the nature and scientific value of the materials, and, accordingly, make it possible to develop methods of working with them for more effective organization of research in this area.