Abstract: This article is dedicated to the issues of main components of international legal regime of navigation on international inland waterways. The author examines this problem from the position of the legal theory, and presents elements that are part of the structure of the legal regime of navigational usage of international rivers. The author believes that the international legal regime of the navigational usage of international rivers must be aimed at setting a unified equal order and conditions for passage through the waterways. A special attention is given to the issues of content of freedom of navigation of international rivers. The author claims that the principles of international law should be projected upon the regulation of navigation on the international rivers. The author highlights significant and insignificant components of legal regulation of international marine traffic. As the main method of legal regulation, the author proposes using an international agreement that would define the area of the regime of navigation on international rivers, contain the norms of material and procedural law, as well as institutional mechanisms of cooperation in this sphere between the countries, and the mechanism of regulation of disputes between them.

Keywords: riparian state, innocent passage, navigational usage, international river law, inland waterway, international waterway, international river, international legal regime, freedom of navigation, timber floating

Abstract: The object of research in this article is the questions of essence and content of the forms of implementation of international economic sanctions issued by the UN Security Council based on Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The author conducts a detailed analysis of the international practice of the forms of implementation of international economic sanctions. A thorough examination is given to such aspects of research as a new form of implementation of economic sanctions that has emerged over the last two decades – “freezing of assets, or other financial products and economic resources”. Among the main conclusions are the positions on universal sphere of effect of economic sanctions imposed by the UN, and the limits of the subject area that are demarcated by the corresponding resolutions of the UN Security Council. The author substantiates the position on the trend in the choice of the forms of implementation of international economic sanctions in favor of the forms that carry a targeted an elective character.

Keywords: UN Security Council, economic blockade, freezing of financial holdings, economic boycott, embargoes, forms implementation of sanctions, international economic sanctions, UN, UN Charter, modification of sanction regimes

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the project that unites France and a number of African nations, particularly the “Franc Zone”. The mechanisms implemented in the Franc Zone are rather unique and have proven their ability to adapt to the economic changes of the member-states since its inception in 1939. The article reviews the history of its creation, issues of functionality, institutional structure, and the normative acts developed within its framework, including the influence that it imparts upon the national law of the member-states of the organization, as well as development of such integration unions of Africa as West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). The author analyzes the impact of the Franc Zone upon the economic integration of the member-states, and development of customs union and relations within the European Union. Despite that fact that the doctrine has a split opinion on the fact that the UEMOA and CEMAC do not represent the optimal monetary zones due to the weakness of the domestic trade, the author concludes that this monetary union is a highly integrated regional union with prospects for further development, and can become the model for development of integration processes in other African regions.

Keywords: financial integration, economic integration, Monetary Union, international treaties, national law, supranational law, regional law, international law, franc zone, Euro-African integration

Abstract: The subject of this research is the terms of the Model Representative Agreement (further – Agreement) of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) of 2013, as well as the norms of Russian and foreign law that regulates the agency relations (norms of Chapter 52 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and legal norms of England and Wales, which regulate agency relations). The agreement is meant to structure and regulate agency relations between the engineering, construction, and project management companies, as well as companies providing intermediary services, helping foreign countries enter the national market of corresponding services. This research represents a first analytical report on the content of the Model Representative Agreement of FIDIC of 2013. The author concludes that there is lack of principal juridical obstacles that would prevent application of the Agreement by Russian companies seeking to provide intermediary services to international engineering companies and project planners. In addition to that, the distribution of risk between the sides of the Agreement is on the side of the foreign companies, which needs to be considered in decision making on the use of this model of agreement.

Keywords: actual authority, project manager, engineering company, agent, anticorruption clause, intermediary, model agreement, FIDIC, express authority, implied authority

Abstract: The subject of this research is the institution of peaceful resolution of disputes in the modern international law. The system of international law represents a construct comprehensive in its form, and complete in content. The institution of peaceful resolution of disputes as an immanent part of world order based on the rule of law integrates a complex of generally accepted procedures: talks, examination, intermediation, resolution, arbitration, and trial. The author notes that a trial from the juridical point of view has full advantages over the other methods. A conclusion is made that the Russian Federation as a statement of its committal to the rule of law, within the framework of its course of foreign policy subsequently supports the elevation of the role of International Court of Justice as the main judicial authority of UN. Subjective positioning of the International Court of Justice defines itself in the format of institutionalized procedures on protection of law.

Keywords: rule of law, International Court of Justice, UN, peaceful resolution of disputes, world, modern international law, foreign policy, Russian Federation, obligatory jurisdiction, law

Abstract: The goal of this research is to analyze the main vectors of the efforts of United Nations in strengthening the rule of law within countries. The author reviews the decades-long record of the organization in the area of conflict resolution. The main conclusions of the conducted research include: firstly, the pressing need for UN to give more attention to restoration and respect of the rule of law, and providing support for the rule of law within conflict states; secondly, the author underlines that UN should stress in its resolutions the necessity of a just court procedure in resolving problems pertaining to conflict situations. Thirdly, the author notices the need to recognize and respect the rights of the victims and defendants in accordance with international standards, taking into account the specific social groups, women, children, prisoners and other individuals who have suffered as a result of a conflict.

Keywords: supporting justice, supporting the rule of law, UN standards, peacekeeping missions, UN Security Council, rule of law, problems in justice system, justice of the transitional period, International Criminal Court, justice reform

Abstract: This article reviews the issue of implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by restoration to the condition prior to the violation (restitutio in integrum). The subject for research of this issue became the denial of the Russian courts to re-examine the case of Olga Kudeshkina in light of new circumstances after the acknowledgement of violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. This case brings back the question of the “level” of state’s discretion in determining the methods of restoration of the rights of the claimant. This article examines the norms of the Russian law that determine the status of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, as well the approach of the European Court itself towards the proper execution of its decisions. Based on the analysis of the circumstances in the case of Kudeshkina v. Russia 1 and the legal positions of the European ECtHR in the case of Kudeshkina v. Russia 2, a critical assessment is made on the possibility of a review of court acts now having a legal power due to the decision of the ECtHR. The author notes that the execution of the ECtHR decisions addresses the most problematic area of the convention – correlation of the authority of the European Court with the national sovereignty of the member-states of the European Council.

Keywords: European Convention on Human Rights, execution of judgments, unlawful dismissal, appeal of a court’s decision, Kudeshkina v. Russia, European court of human rights, Committee of Ministers, freedom of expession, restitutio in integrum, violation of rights

Abstract:   The subject of this research is the work of ICC International Court of Arbitration and the possibility of Russia’s participation. The author believes that until now the issues related to the work of International Court of Arbitration (authority, regulation, procedures and timeframes for reviewing and rendering decisions, especially on arguments caused by obligations in major deals) have not been sufficiently researched. The author thinks that the work of International Court of Arbitration is certainly aimed at increasing efficiency of international arbitral proceedings, which is very important under the conditions of providing higher protection of rights of participants of the process, regardless of any possible economic sanctions. It is noted that the new rules of arbitration of the International Court of Arbitration from January 1, 2012 (rev. 2015) allows the participants of the use of languages in the arbitral process including English, German, French, Spanish, and Russian, underlining the priority of international law above any political and economic conjunctures.  

Keywords: international arbitral precedent, Russia, execution, decision, international contract, new regulation, ICC, authority, regulations, procedure

Abstract: This article considers the cooperation between Member States of the European Union in the area of criminal justice. Two important institutions which encourage the cooperation in the way that Member States are organized, are the European Judicial Network and Eurojust. Such aspects as the organization, the history of the creation, functions, powers and activities of Eurojust are considered.The author concludes that Eurojust, as a European Law Institute, which will provide the basis for establishing a European Prosecutor in future (Article 69 of the Lisbon Treaty), is nowadays the most advanced contributor to the cooperation of Member States in the field of criminal justice. However, the author notes that in such an area as criminal justice, where the loss of sovereignty of member states of EU is experienced the most strongly, Eurojust stays an authority, in the way EU member states’ tribunals are organized, but it is not the European supranational institution. That is why it should be considered as a tool of interaction between the tribunals of EU member states, and not as an institution controlling the interaction between the judicial authorities of Member States and the EU justice system.

Keywords: European Union, Council of Europe, Judicial network, Eurojust, Member States, criminal justice, cooperation, functions, powers, activities

Abstract: This article examines the international legal forms of cooperation between the member-states of the European Union in the context of lawfulness on fight against crime on international level. The author notes that the finely tuned information exchange of the law enforcement agencies of the European nations is a necessary component in organizing mutual efforts on crime counteraction. Receiving timely assistance in criminal cases, including criminal, investigative, and other data is one of the key elements in successful fight against crime. The author analyzes the international legal role of information security within the framework of the European Union. The conclusions of this article may be useful to law enforcement agencies in investigation of transboundary crimes.

Keywords: fight against crime, forms of cooperation, joint investigation team, international legal role, information security, European Union, lawfulness, Europol, secure network, Eurojust

Abstract: The subject of this article is the international law and its dynamics under the current conditions of globalization and integration. The object of this article is the integration processes, which have been named within the science of international law as “Eurasian integration”, and their impact upon the international law as a whole, its correlation with national law, and the conditions of its variability under the influence of globalization and integration. The article examines the issues of theoretical and conceptual nature on the formations of Eurasian integration, cycles of international law, and its variability under the influence of different factors of globalization and integration. It highlights the classification of these factors, substantiated the conclusions on the need to expand the interdisciplinary research, including those pertaining to the fundamental issues of international law. Among the main conclusions is the legal substantiation of the cyclicality in the development of modern international law as an open, rather than closed system, which is simultaneously subjected to convergence and divergence in the ‘focus” of how the processes of integration, regionalization, and globalization correlate with each other.

Keywords: legal system, regionalization, law enforcement, international community, international processes, state, globalization, integration, Eurasian Economic Union, post-Soviet space