The impact of many modern biotechnologies on health and the environment has not yet been sufficiently studied. In recent years, we have witnessed their intensive development and active application in all new areas of public life, which leads to the need to take into account the principles of biosafety in the legal regulation of not only traditional areas of sanitary and epidemiological supervision and control, but also in other areas, including civil law relations. It is necessary to form a unified legal framework at the intersectoral level in order to take into account the principles of biological safety where legal regulation of intellectual property protection should take a separate place. Thus, patent protection should not be granted to inventions and other results of intellectual activity, the development or use of which may entail an unacceptable level of biological risks (exceptions may be used in certain cases in the interests of national security). The paper examines doctrinal and legislative approaches to concretization and consideration of biosafety principles in law, and it presents proposals for making appropriate changes to Russian law developed on the basis of an analysis of the requirements of special and patent legislation.

The paper analyzes some problems of choosing a preventive measure in the form of a prohibition of certain actions. Thus, the author associates himself with researchers who see the main difference between the prohibition on leaving a residential building and house arrest in that house arrest does not imply leaving a residential building, while the prohibition of leaving implies the establishment of periods during which it is valid. The prohibition of approaching certain places may apply both to objects directly related to the crime, and to some objects similar to objects in respect of which illegal actions were carried out. The prohibition of communication with certain persons implies the indication of specific personal data of these persons, but in practice this is often impossible. In such situations, the prohibition is «generic» in nature, the response to violation of the prohibition is made in connection with the appeal of the relevant person to the actions of the accused (suspect). The prohibition on driving a vehicle applies exclusively to cases involving violations of transport legislation. It is proposed to legislatively expand the scope of this prohibition at the expense of the crimes that were committed using vehicles.

The use of prohibited means and methods of warfare and other war crimes are quite common in the modern world. During armed conflicts, the rights of prisoners of war and civilians are often violated, historical and art monuments are destroyed, and irreparable damage is caused to the natural environment. The study analyzes such forms of use of prohibited means and methods of warfare as: a) ill-treatment of prisoners of war; b) ill-treatment of the civilian population; c) deportation of the civilian population; d) looting of national property in the occupied territory; e) the use of means and methods in armed conflict prohibited by the international treaty. The analysis of the forms of use of prohibited means and methods of warfare proves that the disposition of the main composition of this crime defines alternative acts in its commission, each of which, in turn, forms the complete composition of the crime provided for in Part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A feature of the legislative definition of the objective element of the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare is both a descriptive and a blank definition of the signs of this crime. The content of the main forms of this crime is defined in the disposition of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and many other forms are defined in the relevant international agreements of the Russian Federation. In this case, we are talking about the double wrongfulness of the specified act.

The paper is devoted to the consideration of the principle of sovereignty in the context of ensuring human rights and freedoms. It analyzes the norms and provisions of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic that enshrine the institution of human and civil rights and freedoms and guarantees of their implementation, examines the mechanism for the implementation and protection of human rights and the role of sovereignty in ensuring their implementation and protection. With the help of formal legal, structural-functional and comparative legal analysis, the author determine the causes of conflicts and contradictions in the legislative system that complicate constitutional and legal regulation in the field of human rights and freedoms. As a result of the research, the author came to the conclusion about the exceptional importance of sovereignty in ensuring implementation and protection of human and civil rights and their inverse correlation. The author explains the constitutional novelties guaranteeing the protection of human rights and freedoms in the Kyrgyz Republic; considers some effective mechanisms for the protection of human rights and freedoms. At the same time, the author highlights some errors in the reflection of certain elements of the legal status of an individual in the constitutional matter, which can determine the appearance of contradictions and conflicts in legal regulation and, thereby, lead to imperfection of the mechanism for the exercise of rights and freedoms, as well as human responsibilities. The author justified the need for the State to rely on constitutional values, as well as to ensure the supreme legal force of the Constitution due to the insufficient effectiveness of international law in ensuring human rights and freedoms and, at the same time, the expediency of explicitly reflecting in the Basic Law the ratio of international and national legislation.

The phenomenon of the institution of an emergency situation is reflected in the legislation of almost all countries of the modern world. A systematic analysis of the legislation of Russia and Kazakhstan showed that biological and social emergencies were not legally separated into an independent form, which led to significant gaps in the regulation of public relations during the coronavirus pandemic. The emergency situation in connection with the pandemic actually limited previously established socio-economic ties, made it difficult to realize such constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens as the right to work, freedom of movement, and decent medical care. The forced introduction of epidemiological restrictions and the imperfection of the legislative framework have led to the emergence of social problems in Russia and Kazakhstan. Based on the study, the authors conclude that at the legislative level it is necessary to make the most comprehensive classification of emergency situations on the grounds of their occurrence and the territory they affect. The systematic classification of types of emergencies on the grounds of their occurrence will allow the fullest implementation of legal regulation of each type of emergency in the most appropriate way, including determining the powers of authorized bodies, the rights and obligations of the population and representatives of legal entities, the list and procedure for the application of restrictions, etc. The introduction of norms on biological and social emergencies into legislative acts will make it possible to fill in the gaps in the legislation of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

An experimental legal regime is crucial amid the introduction of digital technologies and the support of a competitive environment for the development of entrepreneurship. This is accompanied by the introduction of special regulation. The paper substantiates the thesis that such a regime affects the institution of the realization and protection of human rights. The paper analyzes the programs adopted by the Government, which establish an experimental legal regime as to digital innovations in the field of medical activity. The author considers constitutional principles of the experimental legal regime and the specifics of their implementation in relation to the field of public health protection. Two groups of principles are distinguished among them: those enshrined in the Constitution and legislation and those arising from the meaning of the provisions of the Constitution. It is noted that the Government of the Russian Federation has paid great attention to guarantees of human rights in the field of health protection, in particular, monitoring of medical care provided to citizens, internal control, maintenance by the subject of the experimental regime of the register of offenses, judicial form of protection. At the same time, the presence of legislative gaps and imperfection of legal technology complicate the realization of citizens’ rights and freedoms in the field of health protection under an experimental legal regime: the right to information, personal data protection, and compensation for harm. The paper substantiates the conclusion about the need to improve legislation on experimental legal regimes in the field of healthcare.

The lack of its own independent concept of education amid the aggravation of the geopolitical situation and withdrawal from the Bologna process is one of the main threats to Russia’s national security. The author attempts to objectively assess the current state of legal regulation in the field of higher education. The paper characterizes the changes in the parameters of standardization in education in the context of domestic reforms due to the entry into the Bologna process. The author argues that legislative innovations at this historical stage determined a number of systemic problems of public administration in the field of education, one of which is related to the place of training highly qualified academic personnel. The conducted research allowed us to formulate a number of proposals for improving legislation. Firstly, the training of scientific and academic personnel should be allocated to an independent level of postgraduate education. Secondly, defining the specifics of postgraduate education, it is necessary to consolidate that the legal status of students in higher education training programs is determined, along with the legislation on education, also by the legislation on scientific activity. A postgraduate student should be equated with a researcher in the sense of Article 4 of Federal Law No. 127-FZ dated 23.08.1996 «On Science and State Scientific and Technical Policy».

The paper assesses the use of means of extrajudicial, judicial and public international control over states’ compliance with obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL), and formulates the concept of the institute of international control in IHL. It is noted that the non-judicial mechanisms of international control include: a) a system of protective powers carried out by states independently; b) a mechanism based on the mutual consent of the warring parties for a specific case of an ad hoc offense (a special procedure for investigating states in their non-hostile interaction); c) international fact-finding and investigation mechanisms carried out by international organizations and/or specially authorized bodies on the basis of a states’ obligation that arose earlier. According to the manifestation of the volitional component, the proposed structural control model can be characterized as competing. The institution of protecting powers allows a state that is not involved in an armed conflict to represent the interests of one opposing state over another through good offices. The states at war have pledged to accept the mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross or any other impartial organization. The International Fact-Finding Commission is the only permanent treaty body designed to promote compliance with IHL norms and ensure guarantees provided to victims of armed conflict. Conventions on prohibitions or restrictions on the use of military means contain their own control mechanisms.

Environmental problems are one of the strongest drivers of the development of international law, in some cases, they do act as a way to restrict certain types of activities for certain states. They are of particular importance in the context of polar regions resources usage. The study aims to identify problems and formulate proposals for the development of Russia’s legal position on the conservation of biodiversity in the northern latitudes, as well as to assess the applicability of the universal regime of biodiversity management and the experience of conservation of Antarctic biodiversity. Key threats to the conservation of biodiversity in the northern latitudes include climate change, fishing, marine pollution, tourism and insufficient scientific data on the ecosystems of the region. Fishing poses an immediate threat to the biodiversity of the Arctic, while other threats are the consequences of various human activities. Territorial claims in the Arctic have virtually no effect on the conservation and management of the region’s biodiversity. There is no special treaty on combating climate change and its consequences in the Arctic, because the problem is caused by activities under the jurisdiction of states, has a global character and does not depend solely on the efforts of the Arctic states. Regarding the prevention of pollution of the Arctic marine environment, states recognize the applicability of universal international treaties and decisions of the International Maritime Organization. Legal regulation of tourism in the Arctic is carried out at the national level, with the mandatory implementation of universal environmental obligations, including environmental impact assessment, waste disposal, and the use of zonally linked management tools.

The dual nature of law lies in the fact that, on the one hand, it acts as an objective public regulator, on the other hand, the specificity of its unique perception presupposes the formation of a subjective sense of justice. Every time when faced with legal phenomena, a person experiences emotions, becomes aware of them and reacts in a certain way. The legal reality formed in this case is not a mental category in the head of an individual. Its objectification serves as the basis for building social communications and establishing generally recognized boundaries of what is permissible. The specificity of legal phenomena requires clarification of their essential features in order to isolate them from other objects of the surrounding world. Of particular importance here is the supervenience attribute, which mediates the determinacy of law by basic cultural, ideological, socio-economic prerequisites. The purpose of the paper is to search for relevant methodological tools to explain the ontological essence of law based on the conceptual approaches of Plato’s objective idealism and D. Chalmers’ naturalistic dualism. These concepts seem to be more successful in explaining legal phenomena than materialistic concepts, since they allow us to recognize the independence of the ontological status not only of physical phenomena. Consciousness is filled with intelligible objects that do not have substance, but have their own essence. The identity and intensity of perception of legal abstractions confirm the reality of legal reality. The work uses dialectical, historical, logical, hermeneutic, hermeneutic, sociological, formal legal, predictive and other methods of cognition.