The purpose of the study is to conduct a criminal law analysis of Articles 355 and Articles 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provide for liability for the circulation and use of weapons of mass destruction, to identify the features of their norms, as well as the relationship with the draft articles, which include the elements of crimes in the field of illicit trafficking and use of weapons based on new physical principles. The author of the scientific article used general and private scientific methods: the analysis of the norms of national and international legislation prohibiting the circulation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the scientific approaches of scientists in the field of international humanitarian law, public international law and comparative law have also been studied. The main results of the work consist in the fact that the author of the study proved the fundamental difference between the elements of crimes provided for in Articles 355 and 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, establishing criminal liability for the circulation and use of weapons of mass destruction and the elements of crimes provided for in draft Articles 222.3. and 222.4. of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the prohibition of illegal trafficking and use of weapons based on new physical principles. The necessity of their differentiation and, accordingly, the expediency of criminalizing criminal acts committed with the use of weapon based on new physical principles is justified. The results of scientific research were tested during the International Scientific Readings “Law. Bar. Notary”, organized by the Russian Academy of Lawyers and Notaries on April 19, 2023, as well as within the framework of the 3rd International Scientific Student Conference “Current Problems of International Law in the context of challenges to maintaining peace and security”, organized by the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) The Russian Foreign Ministry on April 25, 2023 and other scientific and practical events. The proposals formulated in the study can be used in the legislative process, as well as in establishing criminal liability in the law enforcement practice of existing criminal law norms.

The consolidation of the Russian state as a social state in the Constitution of the Russian Federation required significant changes both in the system of domestic law and in the system of its individual branches. One of the leading industries that bore a significant “burden” to implement the corresponding transformation is financial law, which by that time, as scientists put it, occupied a “modest place” among other industries. The fulfillment of the assigned mission significantly contributed to changing not only the content, but also the role of financial law in the life of society, the state, and the individual. In essence, the social appearance of financial law has changed, which, although it should be social at its core, is not always clearly socially “coloured”. In this regard, the purpose of this study, based on the thesis about the change in the social image of financial law at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries, is to argue for the presence of a social vector in the development of this branch of law as one of the special branches of the Russian legal system. Using historical, logical methods, as well as methods of comparative legal research and system analysis, the basic prerequisites and conditions for the corresponding transformation, as well as its features, are identified using the example of individual sub-sectors and institutions of financial law. The thesis about the implementation in the norms of financial law of the state’s targets for the implementation of plans and forecasts of socio-economic development is substantiated, it is proven that not only traditional financial and legal institutions (budgetary and legal, tax and legal) are involved in the implementation of the social tasks of the state, but also other (institutions of public banking law, money issue). The current financial legislation and individual acts of strategic planning are analyzed, which made it possible to argue the hypothesis that in the last three decades the social appearance of financial law has changed significantly: not only the socialization of financial law itself has occurred (external aspect), but its content has also changed, including changes the composition of its principles, system, subjects (intra-industry aspect).

Corruption is one of the main threats to the national policy of the Russian Federation, impeding socio-economic development, the effective functioning of public authorities and the formation of civil society. Corruption control should be carried out as a result of a systematic approach aimed both at identifying offenses and eliminating the causes of their occurrence. The main provisions of national legislation aimed at combating the socio-legal phenomenon under consideration, as well as the norms enshrined in international legal acts, are studied. It is concluded that the Russian legislation aimed at countering corruption activities is an interdisciplinary institution, as a result of which it is based on the norms of various branches of law, in particular, criminal, administrative, civil and others. One of the features of countering corruption in the Russian Federation is the use of the most stringent repressive measures, which is expressed in legal formalization and standardization. The trends in tightening measures of criminal and administrative legal means, sanctions for violation of restrictions and prohibitions, as well as strengthening control over ongoing anti-corruption activities are highlighted. As a result of the comparative legal analysis, it is noted that the corruption control in the Russian Federation is carried out through mandatory norms enshrined in criminal and administrative legislation, which is due to the complex corruption situation in the state.

At turning points in the history of the development of any state, the underworld is noticeably transformed. During periods of political destabilization, crisis phenomena in the socio-economic, cultural spheres of society, the crime situation in the country, as a rule, worsens. At the same time, during the collapse of the statehood foundations, the criminal world not only transforms, but changes the vector of its development. Such a period in the history of Russia was the revolutionary events of 1917 and the civil war – a time of radical breakdown of all state institutions, socio-economic and spiritual-moral foundations, which became the starting point for the formation and development of a monolithic and well-organized professional Soviet underworld. The purpose of the study is to analyze the features of determination and conditions for the development of professional crime in the first years of the establishment of Soviet power. To achieve this goal, the following tasks are being solved: to study the features of the development of the domestic professional underworld in the conditions of political instability of the 1917–1920s; determine the essence of the ideological confrontation between representatives of the “tsarist” criminal world and the “new” Soviet one in the first years of the establishment of Soviet power; identify the determinants of the development of professional crime in Russia during the period under study. In the process of work, the method of synthesis, analysis, generalization, and comparative legal method are used. It is proven that against the backdrop of pronounced political instability of the 1917–1920s, which led to a crisis of traditional legal consciousness, erosion of spiritual, moral and religious values, deterioration of the socio-economic situation of the majority of the population, there was a sharp aggravation of the crime situation and, as a result, especially the active development of professional crime, which during the period under study created a real threat not only to society, but also to the national security of the state.