About the problem of obtaining information necessary to prove the guilt of persons involved in the illegal acquisition, storage and smuggling of wood.

Viatkin Andrei Anatol'evich ORCID: 0000-0002-3169-5111 Senior lecturer of the Department of General Humanitarian and Socio-Economic Disciplines of the Irkutsk Law Institute (branch) of the University of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation 664035, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, Shevtsova str., 1 viatkin-chita@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Currently, in an unstable foreign policy situation, the existence of real threats to the economic well-being of the Russian Federation, it becomes obvious that one of the most important tasks is the protection and preservation of natural resources, which are the support and guarantee of stability for our state. The solution of such a task, among other things, falls on the shoulders of law enforcement agencies.

Unfortunately, it should be noted that the forest fund of our country remains under threat, due to the difficulties of combating illegal activities in the field of forest products turnover. However, not only the economy, but also the ecology and the health of the entire population depend on the effectiveness of measures to preserve forest resources.

Back in 2020, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin drew attention to the need to solve the problems existing in the designated area In order to prevent illegal export of wood on his behalf, the Government of the Russian Federation approved a plan for decriminalization and development of the forest complex. In addition, in February 2021, the Strategy for the Development of the Forest Complex until 2030 was approved ^{[1, p. 131]}. It is impossible to deny the positive effect of the measures taken to date, but it has still not been possible to achieve complete decriminalization of the forest industry. 

The problems of suppression of illegal trafficking and smuggling of forest products existing in the Russian Federation remain the subject of discussion in the scientific community, they are considered in the works of Stelmakh E. V. ^{[2, p. 17]}, Rogovoy E. V., Zabavko R. A., Nikonov P. V. ^{[3, p. 76]}, Repetskaya A. L. ^{[4, p. 242]} and other authors.

Among the important ones, it is necessary to highlight the problem associated with the difficulties of obtaining information necessary to prove the guilt of persons involved in the illegal acquisition, storage and smuggling of wood. It seems that within the framework of the study it is necessary to reveal the content of this problem, to suggest a possible way to solve it. Accordingly, the existing practice of investigating relevant crimes, as well as the results of theoretical and applied scientific research conducted in this field, is subject to analysis and comprehension.

The methodological basis of this research is the general dialectical method of scientific cognition, methods of logical deduction, induction, cognitive methods and techniques of comparison, analysis, generalization and description.

The theoretical significance of the study is expressed in the development, description of the algorithm for obtaining information by the investigator, which is necessary in the framework of the investigation to establish the guilt of a person in committing a crime related to illegal trafficking and smuggling of wood.

The practical significance of the study is due to the possibility of applying its results in the investigation of crimes of the specified specifics.

The complexity of the disclosure and investigation of crimes related to illegal trafficking, smuggling of forest products is due to their specifics. First of all, it should be said that they are quite often committed by organized criminal groups with a clear distribution of roles, a high level of intelligence of accomplices who know the legislation and the established procedure for the turnover of forest products in the Russian Federation, its export. A similar conclusion was reached by Kosmodemyanskaya E. E., Anisimova D. V., Pustovoit E. S. in a study devoted to the peculiarities of the subject of timber and timber smuggling ^{[5, p. 57]}. Garmaev Yu. P. and Sereda O. V., based on the results of the study of criminal cases and the results of the survey of respondents, add that illegal trafficking in forest products is not only organized, but also accompanied by corruption, official crimes ^{[6, p. 62]}. 

Organized criminal groups have their own material and technical complex, use modern technologies, take measures for conspiracy, develop multi-stage schemes for committing crimes.   

In addition, law enforcement agencies are faced with the need to disclose and investigate not only the smuggling of forest resources, but also a whole complex of crimes accompanying it. These include crimes that ensure the purchase of illegally harvested timber, the execution of transactions through front persons, the creation of "one-day firms", etc. It seems to be the most complete classification of such crimes, which is proposed by Sereda V. S. It also covers environmental crimes, crimes against property, against the order of management, corruption and official crimes ^{[7, p. 269]}.

Such crimes are accompanied by the compilation of a whole mass of various documents (declarations for goods, contracts, phytosanitary certificates, etc.), which requires the investigator to have a proper level of knowledge of legislation, skills of analysis and comparison of relevant information. 

The situation of the investigator is aggravated by the counteraction provided to the investigation by criminals, who most often coordinate a defensive position among themselves in advance in case their activities come to the attention of law enforcement agencies. In addition, the high illegal income from the "forest business" allows you to hire the most experienced defenders.

Against the background of the above specifics, in practice, the same typical investigative situation develops in which doubts arise about the involvement of identified persons in the commission of crimes, as well as whether they have criminal intent. To describe it, we will use the existing approach of scientists who reveal this concept as the sum of evidentiary and other information available to the investigator at a certain moment, or a situation in the investigation characterized by the sum of all factual data (information) at a particular moment ^{[8, p. 191]}.  

Thus, illegal acquisition, storage and smuggling of forest products were committed by unidentified persons, the fact of committing crimes was revealed after the completion of export operations, a significant amount of information was received as part of the investigation, and the main investigative actions were carried out.

At the same time, the investigator actually gets the impression that the attackers were engaged in entrepreneurial activities, but were not aware of the illegal origin of wood and the illegality of its export, since they were misled by other accomplices from among unidentified persons. And we are not talking here about a primitive version of ignorance of the law, but about an absolutely meaningful and thoughtful defensive position.

How can we overcome it and find information that will eventually allow us to establish the culpability of criminals?

 To do this, we propose to conditionally divide the work of the preliminary investigation body into two stages:

1. Obtaining information about the content and procedure of activities aimed at illegal trafficking and smuggling of forest products. Further, the establishment of the alleged accomplices of crimes, the nature and content of the actions performed by each of them (purchase, storage of forest products, organization of its transportation, paperwork, financial transactions, etc.), the role of each of them in the overall activity.

2. Obtaining information about the awareness of accomplices about the illegal origin of forest products, about the ultimate goal of all operations with forest products (smuggling).

The first stage provides for a rather laborious, largely technical work on collecting significant information about criminal activity. The information obtained in the aggregate should be carefully analyzed for further planning, development of interrogation tactics. In addition, the investigator should take into account that it is quite likely that a situation in which persons from among the accomplices will use their constitutional right and will not testify, will resort to other forms of counteraction to the investigation.

Search work, analysis of information should be carried out based on the method of committing crimes of the designated category. It is necessary to agree with the opinion of S. V. Unzhakova, who points to the direct dependence of the effectiveness of the investigation and its comprehensiveness on the knowledge of the method of committing the crime ^{[9, p. 254]}.

In this case, it usually provides for several stages, the composition and sequence of which may vary.

For example, Akiev A. R. and Fisenko D. Yu. as one of the main ways, note smuggling using documents containing false information about the origin of forest products ^{[10, p. 68]}.

Let 's identify the stages peculiar to it:

1. Search by the organizer for potential participants whose responsibilities will include the full or partial implementation of one or more subsequent stages.

2. Organization of monetary settlements, development of methods and measures of conspiracy, determination of storage locations of forest products.

3. The creation of companies that will carry out the main activity, as well as the registration of auxiliary firms on "front persons" or so-called "one-day firms".

4. Conclusion of international contracts for the supply of forest products with foreign partners.

5. Establishing a scheme for the purchase of timber for their further export.

6. Documentary disguise of the illegal origin of the purchased timber under the legally obtained (production or receipt of fictitious documents from third parties, conclusion of fictitious transactions, etc.).

7. Transportation of forest products to the place of its storage.

8. Registration of phytosanitary certificates for products.

9. Ensuring the loading of products on road or rail transport for its transportation abroad.

10. Customs clearance of exported products.

Summing up, let's say about the results that are expected to be obtained after the completion of the first stage of work. At this point, the investigator should have the most complete picture of the event of the crime, as well as the role of each person involved. The totality of the information received and carefully analyzed by the investigator about each of the above stages will significantly facilitate the implementation of the second stage.

Thus, for the transition to it, the incompleteness of such information should be minimized, since further work will be aimed at obtaining sufficient data on the awareness of the defendants about the illegal origin of forest products and (or) about the ultimate purpose of all operations with such products.

Of course, a conflict-free substantive interrogation of alleged accomplices of a crime in certain cases can give a positive result if some of them wish to admit their guilt or even conclude a pre-trial cooperation agreement. However, it should be noted that such cases are the exception rather than the rule.

In general, the counteraction provided during interrogations is usually due to the cohesion of an organized criminal group, the measures of conspiracy taken by criminals, as well as the pre-agreed position of all accomplices.

In this regard, the priority for the investigator is to search for "weak points" in organized criminal activity, which has as a side effect the appearance of witnesses. They, in turn, play an important role in the formation of the evidence base for the category of criminal cases under consideration ^{[11, p. 38]}.

Among them, it is necessary to single out those who are ready to give more or less objective testimony, as well as those who are motivated to testify only in favor of the defense's position.

For example, the investigation practice that has developed in the Irkutsk Region and the Trans-Baikal Territory shows that they usually include so-called technical workers of enterprises involved in the turnover of forest products, commercial contractors, as well as other persons who are familiar with the participants of an organized criminal group, but are not involved in its activities. It is necessary to make an important reservation that not all categories of such witnesses are given in this study. In any case, their circle depends on the circumstances of a particular criminal case. A more detailed classification, which it seems possible to focus on, is given by E. E. Kosmodemyanskaya ^{[11, pp. 32-34]}.

It should be said that these witnesses are important not only for the preliminary investigation bodies, but also for public prosecutors who are faced with the need to eliminate the shortcomings of the investigation in court.

During their interrogation, the peculiarities of personality, behavior and involvement in direct or indirect interaction with criminals must be taken into account. For example, technical workers are responsible for the processes of storage, loading of forest products, for maintaining cleanliness on the territory of the enterprise, for maintenance of equipment and machinery. They rarely have a higher education, are usually not adequately covered by the measures of conspiracy taken by criminals, to one degree or another they may be aware of the illegal origin of forest products arriving at the storage site. In addition, they know the managers from whom they receive instructions in their daily work activities.

In this regard, during interrogation, such persons may demonstrate a more philistine view of events, not realize the role of their testimony, especially if the investigator skillfully applies acceptable tactics. Such a witness, telling about his work duties, can inform about the awareness of employees and managers of the enterprise regarding the illegal origin of forest products. As a result, this "secondary" witness may become a key one, since his testimony will eventually allow, together with the circumstances established at the first stage, to prove the guilt of the participants of an organized criminal group.

Similarly, the investigator, in cooperation with the body carrying out operational investigative activities, must search for and interrogate witnesses who can provide information about the awareness of the participants of an organized criminal group of the illegal nature of export operations.

However, such work should not be confined only to witnesses, the investigator must necessarily take into account the existence of other possible sources of information.

As a result of comparing the two blocks of information obtained at these stages, analyzing the relationship between them and with the totality of evidentiary materials, it will be easier for the investigator to make a reasonable conclusion about the presence or absence of criminal intent in specific persons.

Thus, to solve the sanctified problem, it is possible to use the algorithm proposed in this study to obtain meaningful information.