Abstract: The article is dedicated to a comprehensive study of the legal protection issues of forest ecosystems in the context of the growing global environmental crisis, where forests are losing their climate-regulating, water-protecting, and biospheric functions due to anthropogenic pressure and climate changes. It analyzes the main threats to forest ecosystems, including catastrophic fires, industrial and illegal logging, outbreaks of pest insect populations, acid rains, pollution with heavy metals and microplastics, as well as the spread of invasive species. It emphasizes that global warming acts as a universal catalyst, intensifying all the aforementioned destructive processes. The author explores the evolution of the ecosystem approach in international law, starting from the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Malawi Principles, and its transformation into national legal systems, conducting a thorough comparative legal study of the legislation of the Russian Federation, the European Union, China, Brazil, as well as countries like Germany, Finland, Sweden, and New Zealand, which allows for the identification of both progressive protection mechanisms and systemic law enforcement issues. The methodological basis of the research is a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach that combines general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, systemic and functional approaches with specialized methods of comparative legal studies, formal-legal interpretation of norms, and analysis of law enforcement practices. Special attention is paid to Russian legal regulation, where the dual legal nature of forests is noted, as established in the Forest Code; however, there is a lack of a clear legal definition, as well as fragmentation of regulation and a gap between strategic documents declaring an ecosystem approach and actual practice, including abuses during sanitary logging. In conclusion, the necessity of borrowing effective foreign tools is justified, such as quantitative ecological indicators for assessing the state of forests, remote satellite monitoring systems, and economic incentive mechanisms for biodiversity conservation. It also emphasizes the critical role of environmental education and a fundamental reassessment of the value attitude towards forests as a strategic asset rather than as a natural resource serving as a source of raw materials for the woodworking and other industries.

Keywords: environmental law, forest ecosystems, ecosystem approach, legal protection of forests, threats to forests, national legislation, sustainable development, international environmental law, legal regulation, environment

Abstract: The subject of this study is the institution of temporary asylum in the Russian Federation as an element of the national asylum system. In particular, the study analyses the legal basis for granting temporary asylum, as set out in the Federal «Law On Refugees» and subordinate legislation issued by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the practice of their application by both the administrative bodies of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the courts, as well as the nature and limits of the Ministry’s discretionary powers when assessing «humanitarian grounds» as an independent basis for granting asylum. A separate section of the study is devoted to an analysis of the draft bill «On the Granting of Asylum on the Territory of the Russian Federation» currently under development, as well as an analysis of the draft bill «On the Granting of Asylum in the Russian Federation» from the perspective of whether it addresses the systemic shortcomings identified in the current regulatory framework, as well as the issues concerning the standard and allocation of the burden of proof for humanitarian grounds in law enforcement practice. The study employs formal-legal, comparative-legal and systemic approaches. The empirical basis consists of legislative acts issued by state authorities, a ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, appeal rulings by courts of general jurisdiction, and judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of «Garabaev v. Russia» and «Iskandarov v. Russia». From a comparative law perspective, EU Directive 2001/55/EC is examined. The originality of this study lies in several aspects. Firstly, in Russian legal doctrine, the institution of temporary asylum is considered within the general context of the legal status of refugees and internally displaced persons, whereas the humanitarian grounds for granting it, as a separate legal category, have not been analysed—a point highlighted in this study. Secondly, the study compares the national model for granting asylum with international standards, which has made it possible to identify specific structural discrepancies between Russian regulations and the Russian Federation’s international obligations. Thirdly, the study was carried out in the context of the current legislative reform, namely the draft federal law being prepared by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs «On the Granting of Asylum on the Territory of the Russian Federation», which is examined, amongst other things, from the perspective of the need to supplement it with new provisions. This lends the study not only theoretical but also directly practical significance.

Keywords: temporary asylum, refugees, forced migration, administrative discretion, humanitarian grounds, Law On Refugees, standard of proof, burden of proof, administrative law, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

Abstract: The author of this article examines the prospects for developing new criminal law mechanisms for the protection of cultural heritage sites. The proliferation of online platforms and spaces related to cultural heritage sites is highlighted. UNESCO's activities in promoting digitalization in the field of cultural heritage preservation and the popularization of digital cultural assets are described. The paper presents an analysis of the criminal legislation of the Republic of Finland on the protection of cultural heritage sites and countering cybercrime. Legislation on the protection of antiquities and the fight against cybercrime in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is examined. Attention is paid to the provisions of the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation related to countering cybercrime. The need for the creation of new specialized norms aimed at protecting the "digital" cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia, as well as the development of a terminological apparatus, is substantiated. The methodological basis of the study is represented by the following methods: comparative legal analysis, systemic interpretation of criminal law norms, dialectical and logical methods, as well as an analysis of foreign legislation in the field of cultural heritage protection. Through a review and analysis of legal norms and scholarly works on this topic, it was discovered that the criminal protection of digital cultural heritage has the potential to be transformed into cybersecurity. The author offers her own definition of the concept of "digital cultural heritage." Potential attacks on "new cultural heritage objects" are listed, along with ways to prevent them. The author outlines her position on the significance of intangible digital objects and tangible historical and cultural objects. The importance of robust cybersecurity measures for protecting digital resources, which play a crucial role in ensuring global access to information and advancing scientific research, is emphasized. It is noted that the international exchange of information, experience, and resources will enable the development of a unified strategy to counter modern threats.

Keywords: Criminal law, Criminal legal protection, Criminal legal mechanisms, Digital cultural heritage, Cultural heritage objects, Cultural heritage, Cultural heritage protection, Cybercrime, Crime prevention, Digitalization

Abstract: The subject of the study is the positive obligations of the state to protect a child, an incapacitated person and a person with limited legal capacity, considered as the constitutional legal basis for the activities of guardianship and custody authorities. The research focuses on public-law relations arising when guardianship authorities exercise their powers in situations where private autonomy, family representation, ordinary administrative procedures or independent access to judicial protection are insufficient to ensure the real protection of a vulnerable person’s rights. Special attention is paid to overcoming sectoral reductionism: family-law, civil-law and administrative rules are not rejected, but are regarded as forms of concretization of a deeper constitutional obligation of the state. The article examines the limits of public activity, since the protection of a child or a ward has constitutional legitimacy only if it complies with legality, proportionality, reasoned decision-making, individual assessment, respect for human dignity and judicial review. The study is based on formal legal, systemic, constitutional-dogmatic, comparative legal and legal modelling methods. The research uses doctrinal analysis, constitutional interpretation and analysis of sectoral legislation. The main conclusion is that guardianship and custody authorities should be regarded as an institutional form of implementing the positive obligations of the state, rather than as auxiliary administrative actors in family-law procedures. The author develops an operational model of legal care, which includes a legally significant basis for intervention, individualization of the protected interest, sufficient factual verification, selection of the least restrictive measure, participation of the child or ward in an accessible form, reasoned decision-making, temporary nature of public intervention and judicial review of actions and omissions. The novelty also lies in extending a unified constitutional logic of protection to children and adult wards while preserving the differences in their sectoral legal regimes.

Keywords: guardianship authorities, positive obligations, ward, human dignity, social state, public authority, family autonomy, judicial protection, legal certainty, constitutional law

Abstract: The article examines the procedural status of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the IAB) and their officials as administrative plaintiffs in administrative proceedings in the Russian Federation. The relevance of the research topic is determined by the fact that in courts of general jurisdiction, the proportion of administrative cases in which the IAB and their officials act as administrative plaintiffs is quite significant. The legal nature of the administrative plaintiff is analyzed, along with the peculiarities of exercising the procedural capacity of the IAB and their officials in administrative proceedings. Special attention is given to the specifics of administrative cases initiated by the IAB and their officials in defense of the public interests of citizens and organizations. The work examines the criteria for distinguishing administrative legal protection from related procedural institutions. The author concludes that the procedural capacity of the IAB as administrative plaintiffs is derived not from the status of a legal entity, but from public competence and the authoritative powers assigned to them, which are exercised on behalf of the state. The research employs general methods of cognition (analysis and synthesis) as well as comparative legal method, abstraction method, systemic, structural, and functional approaches. It is concluded that despite the trends towards the unification of domestic procedural legislation, the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation and their officials have a special status in administrative cases. This status is determined primarily not by possessing the status of a legal entity but by public-legal competence and the nature of the public functions performed. The participation of the internal affairs bodies in proceedings is driven not by personal interest but by the functional necessity of exercising authoritative powers on behalf of the state. Thus, the procedural capacity of these subjects is derived from their public competence, which distinguishes them from other legal entities and emphasizes the specifics of their administrative-procedural status. This approach ensures a balance of public and private interests.

Keywords: law enforcement agencies, administrative plaintiff, administrative proceedings, procedural status, public interests, imperious demands, administrative legal capacity, judiciary, judicial proceedings, appeal

Abstract: The subject of the research is the patterns of the formation and forensic significance of material, ideal, and electronic-digital traces of thefts committed during the accumulation, distribution, and use of donations in the field of charitable activities. The aim of the work is to identify typical complexes of traces that allow for the reconstruction of the mechanism of preparation, commission, and concealment of such crimes, as well as to determine their evidentiary significance for investigation. The empirical base consists of the results of surveying 182 employees of investigative divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia from nine regions, materials from 37 criminal cases, 130 legally valid sentences, and 15 materials on refusals to initiate criminal cases. The content, mechanisms of formation, and forensic significance of material, ideal, and electronic-digital traces for establishing the circumstances of the crime are revealed. Based on an analysis of scientific approaches and investigative practices, an authorial classification of traces has been proposed, based on the mechanism of committing thefts, which includes complexes of traces of distortion of financial and accounting information, informational support for charitable activities, and unlawful disposal of donations. The methodological basis consists of provisions of forensic theory of trace formation, systematic and classificatory approaches, analysis of scientific sources, and generalization of investigative and judicial practices. In processing the data, methods such as comparison, generalization, grouping, and quantitative analysis of the prevalence of individual carriers of trace information were applied. The scientific novelty lies in the justification of the authorial classification of theft traces based on the mechanism of their commission: traces of distortion of financial and accounting information, traces of distortion of informational support for charitable activities, and traces of unlawful disposal of donations. A correlation has been established between the stages of criminal activity and the nature of trace information: preparation predominantly generates ideal and electronic-digital traces, the commission of theft generates material and digital traces, and concealment leads to the transformation, distortion, or destruction of carriers. The proposed classification can be used in planning initial investigative actions and determining directions for the search for evidentiary information. The article examines typical traces of thefts in the field of charitable activities from the perspective of forensic theory of trace formation. The relevance of studying the trace picture of thefts committed in the field of charitable activities is justified.

Keywords: theft misappropriation, charitable activity, charitable organizations, donations, criminalistic characteristics, trace pattern, trace formation, material traces, ideal traces, electronic-digital traces

Abstract: The subject of the research is the social relations forming in the sphere of state financial control during the detection and prevention of offenses related to the violation of the principle of effective use of budgetary funds by entities of budgetary responsibility. The author thoroughly examines the issues of regulating offenses that fall under the definition of inefficient use of budgetary funds. As a result of the research, a problematic feature has been identified concerning the absence of a definition of inefficient use of budgetary funds in the current budgetary and administrative legislation of the Russian Federation. In this regard, at present, there have not been developed both theoretical and practical approaches to defining this term, nor has there been identified ambiguity in judicial practice regarding the accountability of individuals guilty of inefficient use of budgetary funds. The analysis in this research is applied when dividing the studied regulatory framework. The specific-sociological method was employed in the process of summarizing the practice of legal enforcement of state financial control in detecting inefficient use of budgetary funds. The formal-legal method allowed for the identification and examination of a number of legal definitions, classifying them and distinguishing between them. The main conclusions and scientific novelty of the study lie in the identified problematic feature of the absence of a legally established definition of inefficient use of budgetary funds within the framework of budgetary regulation and administrative legal regulation in the Russian Federation. The author proposes to supplement the norms of Chapter 30 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation with a definition of inefficient use of budgetary funds, to highlight this norm as a budget violation, as well as to supplement the norms of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses and establish administrative responsibility for inefficient use of budgetary funds. These conclusions and proposals may have a positive impact on the effectiveness of holding accountable individuals guilty of inefficient use of budgetary funds, will allow for the alignment of judicial positions, reveal new theoretical approaches to the concept of violations in the financial and budgetary sphere as a whole, and to the concept of inefficient use of budgetary funds, in particular.

Keywords: budgetary legal relations, budget, budgetary principles, budget process, budget violation, budget system, administrative responsibility, budget control, budget responsibility, administrative offense