Todorov, A.A. The territorial element of the crime of piracy under the criminal law of Russia and foreign states.

Abstract: This article is devoted to the analysis of the place where the crime of marine piracy was committed as an element of this crime. The legal basis for this study is Art. 15 of the Geneva Convention on the High Seas of 1958 (hereinafter referred to as the Geneva Convention), Art. 101 of the UN Convention on Maritime Law of 1982 (hereinafter referred to as the Convention of 1982), as well as the criminal law of Russia and some foreign states, in some of which which in accordance with the international law the domestic legislation provides for the possibility of piracy only in the open sea, and in some the crime of piracy is not territorially limited. As a result of his study the author comes to a conclusion that the dominating position on the imperfections of the Russian norm on piracy in its territorial aspect and the calls to bring the Art. 227 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation into compliance with the international law lack due ground, since the international law and national legislations are set for fulÞ lling different goals. The international legal deÞ nition of piracy is aimed to coordinate the international Þ ght against it, so it limits its territorial range to the open sea, which is due to the international principle of sovereignty of the states on their territories. The national laws do not need such a territorial limitation.

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