CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OF THE PROCEDURE OF ENTERING THE TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORY OF UKRAINE AND LEAVING IT

Abstract

The article describes the criminal-legal characteristics of the objective and subjective features of the criminal offense covered by the Art. 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which establishes liability for violation of the procedure of entering the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and leaving it. It is established that the State border of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and some districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, despite the acts of Russian aggression, remains within the same limits that existed before their occupation by Russia. However, currently because of the objective reasons the Ukrainian authorities are unable to ensure the inviolability of this part of the State border of Ukraine, which causes the getting into and from the temporarily occupied territories of the criminal groups, smuggled goods, illegal migrants, etc. Criminalization of the action provided for by the Art. 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is an important aspect of creating conditions for proper protection of vital interests of an individual, society and the State from real and potential external and internal threats in the border area. The introduction by the domestic legislator of the liability for the said violation was carried out in order to ensure a special legal regime established in the occupied territory, for the purpose to prevent them from getting all sorts of illegal manifestations, for which the border regime was introduced. It is determined that after the approval of the laws of Ukraine “On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine” and “On peculiarities of the State policy on ensuring the State sovereignty of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions”, the Sate border of Ukraine changed its legal status and acquired the legal status of the limits of the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. That is why these actions should be qualified as violation of the order of entry into or leaving from the temporarily occupied territories, but not as an illegal crossing of the State border of Ukraine.