Evolution of the Legal Regulation of Territorial Defense as an Element of the Organization of Armed Defense in the Legal System of the Soviet State and Modern Russia

Baldin Aleksandr Konstantinovich PhD in Law Associate Professor, Department of Civil Law and Procedure, N.I. Lobachevsky National Research Nizhny Novgorod State University 603022, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Prospekt Gagarina str., 23 akbaldin@unn.ru

The military doctrine of the Russian Federation ^[1], reflecting the system of views on the preparation for armed defense and the armed defense of our country, among the main tasks of the Armed Forces, as well as military and civil administration bodies in peacetime, calls the preparation for carrying out measures for territorial defense. During the immediate threat of aggression, territorial defense measures begin to be implemented directly as an element of defense organization. The development of the military organization involves the improvement of the institute of territorial defense. Thus, the main strategic program document of the Russian military administration assigns an important role to the territorial defense system in organizing activities to prepare for armed defense and armed defense of the state.

The martial law regime introduced by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation in the territories of the Donetsk People's Republic, Luhansk People's Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions ^[2], providing for the conduct of territorial defense, actualized the issue of its organization in certain territories of the state. Within the meaning of the Decree, the Government of the Russian Federation, together with federal and regional state authorities, participates in ensuring the martial law regime and, accordingly, solving the tasks of territorial defense. The list of measures applied in the territory where martial law has been imposed is established by Article 7 of the Federal Constitutional Law "On Martial Law" ^[3]. Territorial defense is conducted taking into account these measures either on the entire territory of the State or in its individual localities, depending on the scope of the martial law regime. Planning and organization of territorial defense are among the main tasks of the Armed Forces.

The issues of acquisition, organization, supply, arrangement and financing of the territorial defense system in the Russian Federation have received a lot of attention in domestic military and legal science. Territorial defense as a separate area of military activity is most often, logically, the object of analysis and research by military specialists who develop the conceptual foundations of its preparation, conduct and comprehensive support, as well as comparing various national models of territorial defense that have developed in foreign countries.

Thus, the issues of improving the territorial defense system, as well as the development of the regulatory framework of this institute in modern conditions were considered by Professor I. L. Kardash ^[4-5]. Some theoretical provisions on the essence of territorial defense and the place of internal affairs bodies in it were studied by V. B. Knyazhev, I. A. Sinodov, V. M. Lebedev ^[6-7]. The history of the formation of the territorial defense of the state was the subject of research in the works of D. A. Gordeev, A. M. Matsulevich ^[8], A.V. Sagaida ^[9]. A. A. Krivov and E. A. Lovpache studied various national models of territorial defense and their elements ^[10]. In the presence of a sufficient number of scientific papers devoted to conceptual approaches to the organization and functioning of the institute of territorial defense, the history of changes in its normative content, as well as the peculiarities of legal regulation of the territorial defense system in various historical conditions and at certain stages of the existence of the Russian state, is also of increased interest.

For several decades, the creation of a territorial defense system has been considered as a direction of the state's activities to ensure its security, in connection with which the authorities carried out work on the formation of the legal basis of national security institutions. At the same time, according to Professor I. L. Kardash, territorial defense has historically developed and developed "as the nature of armed struggle, threats to national security, military-administrative division, socio-political structure and a number of other conditions and factors have changed" ^{[11, p.54]}.

After the October Revolution, the primary task of the new government was to create protection bodies whose task would be to preserve revolutionary gains, fight internal and external counter-revolution, eliminate political and economic instability. At this stage, as A.V. Sagaida noted, "the functions assigned to the territorial defense bodies were solved by various state bodies and departments" ^{[9, p.94]}.

In the early years of Soviet power, the territorial bodies of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage (CHEKA under the SNK of the RSFSR) were actually responsible for the implementation of territorial defense measures. And although initially the functions of the CHEKA were formulated rather vaguely and vaguely, and their volume gradually increased depending on the development of the political situation, the analysis of the constituent documents of the Commission testifies to its exceptional role in organizing work to ensure security on the territory of the state. According to the Resolution of the SNK of December 7 (20), 1917 on the creation of the All-Russian Emergency Commission under the SNK to combat counterrevolution and sabotage ^[12], the tasks of the Commission included "the prosecution and elimination of all counterrevolutionary and sabotage attempts and actions throughout Russia, from whomever they came." As the revolutionary struggle intensified and in order to repel German aggression, the powers of the Commission in accordance with the Decree of the SNK of February 21, 1918 ^[13] were expanded up to the physical elimination of "enemy agents, speculators, thugs, hooligans, counterrevolutionary agitators, German spies." In addition, the Decree declared the need to provide "all the forces and resources of the country entirely for the cause of revolutionary defense" and, as a separate measure, obliged "workers and peasants of all cities, towns, villages and villages along the new front to mobilize battalions to dig trenches under the guidance of military specialists." Thus, territorial defense was actually considered as an element of revolutionary defense, whose participants in one way or another were all workers, peasants, revolutionary organizations and Soviet institutions of Russia.

In the pre-war period, armed units of state security bodies - the OGPU, later the NKVD - also took part in the implementation of territorial defense tasks.

The United State Political Directorate (OGPU) under the SNK of the USSR coordinated the revolutionary efforts of the Union republics to combat political and economic counter-revolution, espionage and banditry in the period from 1923 to 1934. The formation of this body was objectified by the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922 and, accordingly, the expansion of the scope of goals and objectives to ensure the internal security of the state. The importance of the OGPU in the system of public administration was emphasized by the fact that its legal status was fixed in Chapter IX of the Basic Law of the Soviet State ^[14]. Later, the OGPU became part of the NKVD of the USSR, which assumed the functions of maintaining public order.

The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR, formed by the Decree of the CEC of the USSR of July 10, 1934 ^[15], was entrusted with the tasks of ensuring revolutionary order and state security, as well as the protection of public (socialist) property. As part of the implementation of these tasks, the People's Commissariat carried out standard-setting activities aimed at regulating the procedure for their solution. Thus, issues related to the organization of internal territorial security were regulated by departmental orders, resolutions, regulations and rules of the NKVD.

The armed aggression of Nazi Germany against the Soviet state required the expansion of the powers of state security agencies, strengthening their military component. In order to solve the tasks of protection and defense of important military and state facilities, regulatory legal acts of an extraordinary nature were issued, which paid special attention to legal measures to combat sabotage and reconnaissance formations of the military enemy and illegal armed formations, to identify, prevent, and suppress their activities. So, in the initial period of the war, for the timely and successful elimination of saboteurs thrown by the enemy on parachutes, the Resolution of the SNK of the USSR of June 24, 1941 was adopted ^[16], which provided for the creation of fighter battalions numbering 100-200 people from among the proven party, Komsomol and Soviet assets capable of owning weapons for this purpose. The general responsibility for organizing the fight against parachute saboteurs in the territories covered by hostilities was assigned to the NKVD bodies, whose officials provided the leadership of the fighter battalions. Fighter battalions were granted the right to use, if necessary, all types of local communications and transport, and party and Soviet bodies were ordered to provide all possible assistance to NKVD bodies in organizing and manning fighter battalions. Given the above, fighter battalions can be considered as the precursors of modern armed formations of the territorial defense system, their positive experience of countering enemy attempts to disrupt the work of the rear during the war is useful for today. In addition, on June 25, 1941, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and the SNK of the USSR approved a resolution "On the organization of the Institute of front-line and army chiefs of the military rear guard" ^{[17, p.45]}, according to which the tasks of protecting the rear of the active Red Army were assigned to the NKVD. In particular, the tasks of the rear guard troops were to ensure the protection of the rear from the subversive actions of the enemy, the decisive destruction of spies, saboteurs and parachutists, conducting a merciless struggle against deserters, alarmists, propagators of provocative rumors ^[18]. According to Professor N. T. Asilov, "over the years of the war, territorial defense has turned into one of the forms of armed struggle against the enemy" ^{[19, p. 70]}. At the same time, scientific and theoretical views on territorial defense were gradually formed, security and regime measures were formed, which later formed its basis.

The activities of the military and civil administration bodies of the Soviet state in the post-war period were determined by the international situation that developed after the Second World War. A characteristic feature of the time period under consideration was that continuous restructuring of elements of the state apparatus took place. At the same time, as Professor I. L. Kardash notes, "in the post-war period, the issues of territorial defense lost relevance and gradually acquired a secondary character, as the domestic situation in the Soviet Union became more and more favorable" ^{[11, p.56]}. At the same time, taking into account the importance of the territorial defense system and the speed of its deployment, if necessary, to protect the population and facilities, as well as to ensure the organization of the work of the rear and military production, views and approaches to the organization of territorial defense have been developing and changing in our country for a long time, many of which are reflected in scientific works and they were even tested during joint exercises with military authorities and troops.  Based on the results of scientific research, the content of the acts of military administration devoted to the institute in question was also formed. Thus, according to military researcher V. B. Knyazhev, "the term territorial defense came into use and became widely used in the late 70s of the last century," while some issues related to its content "were touched upon much earlier in domestic and foreign military and legal science" ^{[6, p. 328]}. In addition to this, it was established that territorial defense is organized and carried out throughout the country by the forces and means of all types of Armed Forces, bodies and troops of the KGB of the USSR, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, the USSR GO, other ministries, state committees and departments of the USSR in close cooperation with the Defense Councils of Republics, territories and regions ^{[11, c.56]}.

Currently, a legal framework has been formed and continues to develop, represented by a system of regulatory legal acts of various levels regulating the organization and conduct of territorial defense. In particular, Article 10.1 of the Federal Constitutional Law "On Martial Law" provides for a general procedure for conducting territorial defense, defining the martial law regime as a condition for its implementation.

The main source of legislative regulation of the institution in question is the Federal Law "On Defense" ^[20], which declares the planning and implementation of measures for territorial defense among the measures for the organization of defense. This law includes the concept of "territorial defense", the procedure for the creation, activities and powers of the headquarters of territorial defense. On the basis of paragraph 1 of Article 22 of the Law on Defense, territorial defense is understood as a system of measures carried out during the period of martial law for the protection and defense of military, important state and special facilities, facilities that ensure the vital activity of the population, the functioning of transport, communications and communications, energy facilities, facilities that pose an increased danger to human life and health, and for the environment, to combat sabotage and reconnaissance formations of foreign states and illegal armed formations, to identify, prevent, suppress, minimize and (or) eliminate the consequences of their sabotage, intelligence and terrorist activities in order to create favorable conditions for the functioning of these facilities and the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations, bodies and special formations created for wartime. It should be noted that the current version of the law, in support of Article 10.1 of the Federal Law "On Martial Law", establishes that territorial defense will be conducted only on the territory of martial law, taking into account the measures applied during the period of martial law. In addition, the document contains a reference in paragraph 3 of Article 22 to the Regulation on the Territorial Defense of Russia, which should establish the procedure for organizing, deploying and conducting territorial defense, the functions of military administration bodies, state authorities and local self-government bodies in the field of territorial defense. The Regulations on Territorial Defense and the Territorial Defense Plan of the State are approved by the President of Russia as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. In order to ensure the martial law regime in the subjects of the Russian Federation and in municipalities, interdepartmental coordinating bodies are being created – territorial defense headquarters. Their tasks include ensuring the coordination of joint actions of bodies, formations and organizations that carry out territorial defense measures in the relevant territory, as well as ensuring the coordination of territorial defense measures with measures to ensure martial law, mobilization measures, civil defense measures and counter-terrorism measures carried out in the relevant territory. The Law on Defense also provides for measures of responsibility of territorial defense headquarters for the state of forces and means created for the implementation of territorial defense measures by State authorities and local self-government bodies.

The authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies take part in planning and ensuring the implementation of measures for territorial defense. The powers of the state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the field of organization and implementation of measures for territorial defense are fixed in paragraph 2 of Article 26.3 of the Federal Law "On General Principles of Organization of Legislative (Representative) and Executive Bodies of State Power of the Subjects of the Russian Federation" ^[21] and paragraph 88 of Article 44 of the Federal Law "On General Principles of Organization of Public Power in subjects of the Russian Federation" ^[22]. The organization and implementation of measures for territorial defense on the basis of Chapter 3 of the Federal Law "On the General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation" ^[23] also refers to issues of local importance of municipalities of various types.

In addition, the competence for the organization and conduct of territorial defense is disclosed in special federal laws and departmental documents of military administration bodies, federal executive authorities regulating the implementation of the tasks assigned to them of territorial defense in various conditions of the situation. From the position of the military component, territorial defense "is a complex of combat, security and regime actions of various departmental forces and means, coordinated by goals, objectives, place, time, aimed at destroying (eliminating) enemy forces and means, preventing disorganization of the rear of the country and depriving the state of the ability to defend and wage war" ^{[6, p.329]}. As already noted, the direct provision of tasks for the organization of territorial defense is assigned to specially allocated forces and means of military units and institutions of the Armed Forces, as well as other federal executive authorities with military formations. Taking into account the territorial principle of the organization of territorial defense, a significant role in its management is assigned to military districts ^[24]. Military commissariats organize and support constant interaction with the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies on the territory of the military district on the issues of deployment and conduct of territorial defense ^[25].

According to paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Article 2 of the Federal Law "On the Troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation" ^[26], the tasks of the National Guard troops include participation in territorial defense. At the same time, Professor N. F. Popova points out that in the mechanism of organizing territorial defense, "the National Guard troops should not replace the Armed Forces" ^{[27, p. 176]}. The Russian Cossacks take part in territorial defense events ^[28], which traditionally solved the corresponding tasks in the Russian Empire. On the basis of clause 10 of the Regulations on the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation ^[29], the Minister of Defense submits to the President a Plan for the Territorial defense of the state. The organization of territorial defense also belongs to the functions of the FSB of Russia ^[30]. A significant role in solving the tasks of territorial defense is played by the internal affairs bodies, whose forces and means are used to ensure internal security. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia implements the functions of territorial defense, organization of public order and security protection in wartime conditions, performing the duties of mobilization deployment, training of special formations designed to protect public order ^{[7, p. 53]}.

Taking into account the complex nature of measures for territorial defense, the multi-vector nature of tasks for its organization, the institute under study provides for a plurality of responsible performers involved in ensuring the defense of the country. Each department has created its own regulatory framework regulating the territorial defense system, which often understands its priorities differently. This circumstance creates certain difficulties for the current state of legal regulation of territorial defense. According to Professor I. L. Kardash, the established "departmental approach" to understanding territorial defense and the principles of its implementation leads to the fact that "the provisions of some documents do not agree with each other, and in some cases contradict each other" ^{[4, pp.4-5]}. In this regard, it seems timely to propose a scientist to create a document "regulating the issues of territorial defense, taking into account the specifics of the purpose and characteristics of the elements that make up the system of forces and means of territorial defense" ^{[4, p.4-5]}. Such a document may be considered the Provision on Territorial Defense referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 22 of the Law on Defense.

In conclusion, it should be noted that, despite the existing gaps and contradictions in the legal regulation of the procedure for the activities of military command bodies, troops, military formations and other bodies when performing the tasks of territorial defense assigned to them in a difficult situation for the state, the regulatory framework of the institute under study should be considered, as a whole, formed. Having begun to develop into a separate element of national security in the Soviet state in the post-war period, territorial defense at the present stage has objectively undergone significant changes, which are reflected in the legislation. The undoubted quality of the current legislative acts on territorial defense is, firstly, a clear definition of the very concept of "territorial defense", revealing the essence, content, procedure for its preparation and conduct. Secondly, the expansion of the composition of forces and means used in its organization and implementation generates positive consequences in the form of an increase in the number of normative legal acts devoted to territorial defense. This contributes to the further development and improvement of the legal institution based on the results of law enforcement monitoring. In addition, in comparison with Soviet legislation, which weakly and fragmentally regulated the issues of the organization of territorial defense, and indeed for a long time did not know such a concept, the current acts to a certain extent were able to fix a uniform holistic perception of the phenomenon under consideration, despite the aforementioned "departmental approach".  The sharp aggravation of the current international situation, accompanied by the use of military force, will be a severe test for the existing mechanism of legal regulation of the institution of territorial defense in the system of measures to ensure the security of the state and will determine the further direction of its improvement.