Abstract: History teaches that any territorial changes pose a threat to national security, even if these territorial changes occur within the borders of one state. At the same time, a change in state borders may lead not only to a complication of international relations, but also to an increase in socio-political tension within the country. Therefore, it is extremely important that this process has a pre-established legal framework that would minimize the risks associated with changing the territory of the state. Thus, the subject of this publication is the legal order and experience of changing the territory of the Russian Federation, including the accession of new subjects of the federation to Russia in 2014 and 2022. The publication notes that the gap established by the constitutional legislator in terms of changing territorial borders has not been filled in full. Currently, only the procedure for joining new subjects of the Russian Federation has been established and there is no procedure for separating subjects or territories from the Russian Federation. The absence of a procedure for the withdrawal of the territory from Russia, in fact, deprives the latter of such an opportunity, which ensures the stability of the country's territory and its security. At the same time, the procedure for joining new subjects of the Russian Federation is regulated in detail and includes almost all the highest state authorities in the process of making the appropriate decision. The publication proves compliance with international legal norms in the implementation of the process of the entry of new subjects of the federation into Russia, including relying on the declarative theory of the emergence of states. The author proves the admissibility and legality of national procedures for the accession of new subjects to the Russian Federation. The authors propose to expand the use of direct democracy when new subjects join the Russian Federation.

Abstract: The authors of the article analyze the amendments to the Federal Law "On the order of consideration of citizens of the Russian Federation" that sets forth the rules for legal entities referring to the bodies of state power and local self-government. The role of the Constitutional Court in giving organizations the constitutional right to an appeal is discussed. The reasons for the establishment of the existing two-part complex regulatory structure "treatment of citizens' associations, including legal persons", as well as studied the problems of its use are covered. The authors also analyzed foreign legislation on the organization of appeals. The research is based on the dialectical method as the general research method and special methods such as system-structural, formal and legal, logical and comparative law analysis. The results of the research demonstrate that amendments to the Federal Law "On the order of consideration of applications of citizens of the Russian Federation" were of the forced nature and were carried out without proper scientific justification. That resulted in unrevealed concept and features of the organization as a subject of the constitutional right to an appeal. The authors of the article propose to develop a clear definition of treatment will of the organization as an association of citizens or legal persons set out in writing or formulated on a personal reception of the person authorized to represent the organization.

Abstract: The research subject is the four official (government-supported) federal websites specialized in the acceptance of citizens’ electronic appeals: The Single Portal for Central and Local Government Service; the online portal of pre-trial appeal against central and local government services; the online portal “Your Control”; the website “Russian Public Initiative”. The author analyzes the universal government-supported websites, but not the websites of particular governing bodies created in the pursuance of the Federal Law “On the provision of access to the information about the activities of central governing bodies and local governments”. The author applies the following methods: dialectics, abstraction, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, the formal-legal method, the method of intersectoral legal studies, and the comparative-legal method. The present article is one of the first complex studies of websites, specialized in the acceptance of citizens’ appeals, analyzing all the existing Russian specialized government-supported websites on the Internet. The author considers the legal framework of these websites’ functioning and the algorithm of their work with citizens’ appeals. The author analyzes the problem of anonymity of electronic appeals and its solution by means of the registration on The Single Portal for Central and Local Government Service. The author detects the advantages of specialized websites in comparison with other ways of lodging and processing of citizens’ appeals: federal coverage (the appeal can be lodged with any governing body connected to the information system); convenience (appeals can be sent electronically from any place with access to the Internet including a mobile phone); compatibility (all the mentioned websites operate on the base of the single applicant identification system and are interconnected); consideration procedure transparency (application processing by a governing body is reflected on the applicant’s personal account). The research can help improve the work with electronic applications and increase the quality of their processing by governing bodies. 

Abstract: This article examines the use of the term “petition” in international contracts, national legal acts, court decisions, as well as foreign legislation. The acts of the constituents of the Russian Federation alongside the bodies of local self-governance meticulously analyze the use of this term. Taking into account that the use of the term “petition” has not entrenched in the Russian jurisprudence, this work studies the two main approached towards its definition: as a variety of collective appeal regarding the important questions of social life, as well as external form of national law-making initiative. The conducted analysis allowed establishing that in the federal level acts the term “petition” is mentioned only in the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection”, but has no concrete definition. Reference to petitions can come across in the acts of constituents of the Russian Federation, and most often in the acts of local self-governance. The author concludes that in both, Russian and foreign jurisprudence, the word “petition” is traditionally considered as synonym to the word “appeal”. However, depending on the context of legal act or scientific approach, petitions are either equalized with addresses of the citizens, or considered exceptionally as their variety. We should specify that in the Russian constitutional law the term “petition” is primarily used in meaning of the collective address of citizens, including the special (enhanced) form of the collective address. The conducted analysis allowed substantiating the impracticality of use of the term “petition” in Russian legislation.

Abstract: The article analyzes the classification of citizens' appeals depending on the subject of will. The author considers the traditional individual and collective citizens' appeals, and the "new" organisations' appeals legalized by the amendments to the Federal Law "On the procedure of consideration of citizens' appeals" in 2013. The author studies the positive experience of collective appeals regulation on the local level, and the problem of explanation of the two-part construction used by the federal legislator: "citizens' associations including legal entities". The study is based on the general scientific dialectical method. The author uses the special methods: the historical method, the system-structural method, the formal-logical method, the logical and the comparative-legal method. Depending on the subject of will, Russian legislation allows separation of the following types of appeals: individual citizens' appeals, collective citizens' appeals, organisations' appeals. Normative definitions of these types are absent. Legal regulation of submission and consideration of these appeals should be declared insufficient. The analysis of the "new" type of appeals - organisations' appeals - established the absence of special submission requirements. The article provides the amendments to the article 4 of the Federal Law "On the procedure of consideration of citizens' appeals", which contain the normative definitions of appeals depending on the subject of will, and other suggestions aimed at the enhancement of legal regulation and practice of consideration of non-individual appeals. 

Abstract: The purpose of this publication is not only to attract attention to the problems of the status of elected representatives of the people, but also to develop the effective mechanisms of their status improvement and the effectiveness of local deputies increase. Therefore, in addition to the analysis of the legislation on the status of deputies the article describes the specific measures of their legal status improvement. In the Annex to the article there is a draft Law of Sverdlovsk region aimed at the establishment of additional powers-guarantees of local deputies. This project (with appropriate modifications) can be implemented in other regions of the Russian Federation. The research is based on the general scientific dialectical method.The author uses the special methods: the historical method, the system-structural method, the formal-legal, logical and comparative-legal methods. The article studies the peculiarities of normative regulation of the local deputies' status and justifies the establishment of these legal institutions: deputy's inquiry with the elements of the parliamentary inquiry, deputy question, deputy inspection as an individual authority of local MPs. The publication can be used by the scientists and by the deputies in their legislative activities.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the category of applicants as subjects of applications, but it doesn’t consider the problem of addressees. Besides the traditional applicants – citizens and groups of citizens, the article analyzes the new subjects – “citizens’ associations, including juridical persons”, and the reasons for including of this two-part formulation into the Federal Law “On the Procedure of Citizens’ Applications Consideration”. The author studies the foreign experience of juridical persons normative inclusion in the category of subjects of law on application. The author studies the problem of the subject of application legal competence, including the question of its presence at different types of applicants. The publication is based on the general scientific dialectic method. The special methods used are: the system-structural method, the formal-juridical method, and the logical and comparative-legal methods. The author substantiates the separation of three independent types of applicants: individual, group of individuals, and organization (association of citizens and juridical person). It is stated that in constitutional legal sense an applicant is always an individual person (not a public one), but neither public authority bodies nor their officials. Organizations’ applications analysis had proved that the constitutional right on application belongs not to each particular member of the collective, but only to the association, i.e. it is not the sum of individual rights on application. The author offers the measures to enhance the legislation, and explains the notions “public individual”, “applicant”, and some others.