Updated Positions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Matters of Qualification of Environmental Crimes

Abstract

Analysis of the positions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the qualification of environmental crimes, set out in the updated guidelines, makes it possible to determine the main directions of law enforcement practice in this area. They allow us to determine the main directions of law enforcement practice in the field of combating environmental crimes. It has been established that the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation correctly perceives the criticism of the scientific community and actively implements the advanced positions of the doctrine of criminal law into guiding explanations, promptly studies and generalizes the emerging law enforcement practice for more effective protection of public relations related to the environment. It is noted that approaches have been developed relating to the legal assessment of a socially dangerous act constituting illegal logging of forest plantations, criteria for the legality and illegality of logging activities (in terms of the grounds for logging activities), assessment of damage from illegal hunting, and the differentiation of Art. 260 and 1911 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, confiscation of funds and instruments for committing environmental crimes, etc. Separately, the changed approaches to determining the subject of illegal logging of forest plantations are considered, to which the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation includes forests on agricultural lands, about which there were previously different legal positions. There is a fairly consistent practice of using confiscation of property, which, on the one hand, makes it possible to deprive the guilty of the opportunity to reoffend and complements the punitive effect of punishment, but on the other hand does not contradict the principles of justice and legality. The main conclusion was made that criminal policy in the field of environmental protection as a whole has the right vector of development, and the adopted changes and additions to the guidelines are well justified, timely and contribute to the optimization of law enforcement activities.