FEATURES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION CONSTITUTING A STATE SECRET IN UKRAINE AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Abstract

The relevance of the subject is largely conditioned upon the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, which, regretfully, does not exclude cases of criminal offences regarding the disclosure of information constituting a state secret. The purpose of the study is to analyse some aspects of criminal liability for disclosure of state secrets in Ukraine and to identify, based on positive foreign experience, proposals for improving this institution in Ukraine. The research methods were: analysis and synthesis, dialectical, comparative legal, Aristotelian and formal-dogmatic. In the process of analysis, it was identified that at the legislative level in Ukraine, the protection of state secrets is regulated in detail, lists of information that may contain state secrets, and cases when information cannot be a state secret, no matter what. In addition, the Criminal Code of Ukraine defines adverse consequences in the form of criminal sanctions that may occur for persons who disclose information constituting a state secret. It is determined that the analysis of the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and its correlation with the legal provisions of other regulations, including the study of international legislation, allows concluding that the criminal law provisions defining liability for violation of the state secret protection regime should be transferred to another section. The materials of this study can be used in consideration of the problems of criminal law, in law-making activities in the development of provisions for improving criminal liability for disclosure of information constituting a state secret in Ukraine.