Russian Forces Research Articles

On the Issue of the Peculiarities of the Formation and Modernization of the State Environmental Policy of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China

This article discusses aspects of solving environmental protection problems and outlines issues characterizing the interaction between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China. An assessment is given on the adoption of legislation for both states and joint coordinated measures aimed at reducing and eliminating negative trends associated with environmental degradation in Russia and China. The features of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China's influence on state environmental policies on environmental issues are described. The analysis of the state of legality in enforcing environmental legislation and the effectiveness of legal means used in implementing prosecutorial supervision in this area is carried out. Empirical, statistical, and scientific information is provided on how the prosecutor's offices of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China participate in the formation of methods and tools of national environmental policies that are of a state nature and carry out their activities mainly in legal forms using complex mechanisms of legal regulation. The proposed article compares the concepts of sustainable development in force in Russia and the People's Republic of China based on generally recognized environmental standards by the international community, which have been ratified in the legislation of the countries under consideration, and analyzes the problems and areas of improvement of Russian and Chinese environmental legislation.

К. Д. Ушинский - редактор «Журнала Министерства народного просвещения» (к 200-летию со дня рождения)

The aim of the study is to characterise the activities of Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky (1823-1870) as an editor of the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. The necessity of this publication is explained by the fact that the work of the great Russian teacher as an editor of the main pedagogical journal of Russia has not been reflected in modern papers by Russian scholars, as well as by the 200th anniversary of his birth. The study shows Ushinsky’s efforts to transform the journal, which had previously been a strictly official collection of orders and directives of the Ministry, as well as random special papers, into a printing centre that united progressive pedagogical forces in Russia. Ushinsky’s relationship with the Ministers of Public Education E. P. Kovalevsky and A. V. Golovnin, with some authors, such as I. S. Bellustin, is revealed. As a result, the conclusion about the importance of K. D. Ushinsky’s activities for the development of the progressive Russian pedagogical press is made and the need for further research of K. D. Ushinsky’s heritage is emphasised.

THE RUSSIAN ARMY’S DEFICIENCIES IN OPERATION ”Z”

Operation “Z” launched by Russia on 24.02.2022 against Ukraine is facing severe logistical problems on the ground. The railway infrastructure they rely on and cannot fully meet their requirements, outdated logistical equipment, difficulties and limitations in securing fuel requirements have been frequently reported problems in the last weeks of the conflict. The logistics support doctrine of the Russian forces contains some organizational and functional inadequacies. From its analysis it appears that a logistic support battalion with its personnel and equipment is not able to fully meet the support requirements of the forces served. Apparently, this deficiency is encountered both at the tactical and the operational and strategic level, as it becomes evident from the analysis of several articles and scholarly works regarding the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The present article aims, based on the analysis of information available from open sources (articles, TV reports and social media posts), to identify the source of the logistical problems faced by the Russian armed forces.

Mental health symptoms and coping strategies among Ukrainians during the Russia-Ukraine war in March 2022.

The Russian attack on Ukraine has been ongoing since February 24, 2022. Nevertheless, no research has documented the mental health of Ukrainians during the biggest land war in Europe after the Second World War, or how Ukrainians cope with the impact of the war. To provide the prevalence rates of symptoms of psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia; and to link them with Ukrainians' productive coping strategies during the war. Online survey conducted in Ukraine during the initial period of the Russian invasion (March 19-31, 2022), using a quota sampling method, of 1,400 Ukrainians aged 18 years or older, with a total of 801 valid responses for a response rate of 57.2%. Psychological distress assessed by the Kessler Psychological Distress scale (K6); anxiety assessed by Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (GAD-2) scale; depression assessed by Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2); insomnia assessed by Insomnia Severity Index-4 (ISI-4); modes of coping assessed by Brief COPE. Of 801 Ukrainian adults, 52.7% had symptoms of psychological distress (mean = 13.3 [SD = 4.9]); 54.1% of them reported symptoms of anxiety (mean = 2.9 [SD = 1.7]); 46.8% reported symptoms of depression (mean = 2.6 [SD = 1.6]). Symptom criteria for insomnia were met by 97 respondents (12.1%) (mean = 10.4 [SD = 4.2]). Demographic variables (including gender, living in an urban area, having children or elderly persons in the household, living in an area occupied by Russian forces) were associated with symptoms of distress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The productive coping strategies of using instrumental support, behavioral disengagement, self-distraction, and planning were significantly associated with mental health symptoms. Prevalence rates of symptoms of psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia were high. These findings underscore the need for healthcare and productive coping strategies for Ukrainians during the war.

Global War and Anti-Radical Legislation: Japan and the Peace Preservation Law of 1925

ABSTRACT Japan’s military participation in the First World War was relatively brief but the war and the ideas it unlocked exerted an impact up to and after the Second World War. Japan experienced an economic boom during the war resulting in an exponential increase in the cost of rice. This sparked a serious challenge to the Japanese state. The ensuing rice riots of 1918 saw the government forced to deploy more troops to suppress them than it had sent to intervene on behalf of White Russian forces in Siberia in the same year. Further, the ‘Wilsonian Moment’ emboldened the Korean independence movement in 1919. When the war ended on the Western Front in 1918, Japan was involved in military intervention in Eastern Russia, was quelling domestic unrest, and facing a major threat to the stability of its empire. Although enacted in 1925, the Peace Preservation Law grew directly from the events beginning in the final year of the First World War. The law was the instrumental platform for the construction of Japan’s infamous thought control apparatus of the 1930s and the policing of Japan’s formal and informal empires. This paper traces the wartime origins of the Peace Preservation Law in the context of the state of exception and how the First World War and the Russian Revolution forced Japan to rethink its conception of sovereignty.

Threat/risk assessment tool to assess vulnerability of Polish cities to Russian attacks

ABSTRACT Polish border guards can’t stop a few dozen fast-wheeled APCs and IFVs. If such a force would cross through any road at the eastern border of Poland, it would pass almost intact. Afterward, it would be an easy target, but only before it could hide in a dense urban area. Is eastern Poland prepared for such a surprise attack of under a hundred vehicles that could arrive in many city centres within an hour after the border crossing? If a Russian force arrives at even a medium-sized city centre, they could occupy and hold such a position for weeks and use local civilians as human shields. They could force political negotiations holding also precious city infrastructure hostage. Lack of fast and decisive decision-making which is highly likely (because any bombardment will mean a loss of life of civilians) will only make any attempt to regain the city more difficult.

Dacha amnesty in 2022

For 16 years, Federal Law No. 93-FZ of 30 June 2006 "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Regarding the Simplified Procedure of Registration of Individual Rights to Certain Immovable Property" (hereinafter referred to as Law 93-FZ, dacha amnesty), which is commonly known as "dacha amnesty", has been in force in Russia. Since the enactment of Law No. 93-FZ, a number of reforms have been introduced in the field of real estate registration and new legislative initiatives have been taken. To date, the legislator has decided to extend Law No. 93-FZ, and this article addresses a number of questions. Was the dacha amnesty mechanism effective within the framework of the legislation for all years of its existence? What are the pluses for the state and citizens from the enactment of this law at the moment? Will Law No. 93-FZ actively work against the background of other legislation enacted in 2022 and beyond? As a result of a comprehensive study of the simplified procedure of registration and cadastre of dacha and housing estates in the RF, the author will provide answers to the questions posed.

Conservative Values as a Bridge between Russia and the West

The ideological factor is regaining significance in today’s multipolar world and promotes the importance of an ideological and value dialogue between right-wing conservative forces in Russia and right-wing forces in Europe. The values shared by the representatives of European right-wing movements are close to Russia’s value agenda, which proves the feasibility of establishing diverse strategic interaction with the proponents of such ideological views in Europe.

МОДЕРНИЗАЦИЯ СИСТЕМЫ СОЦИАЛЬНОГО КРЕДИТОВАНИЯ В РОССИИ

The banking system is the most important mechanism for organizing cash flows in the country, ensuring the flow of capital between its suppliers and consumers through credit mechanisms. Social credit system, the main beneficiaries of which are socially vulnerable segments of the population, involves the state as a mandatory participant in the system, which creates programs to support vulnerable segments of the population, provides budgetary funds to subsidize interest rates and compensate part of the loans, and acts as a guarantor of the sustainability of the system. The purpose of the study is to develop theoretical and methodological principles and develop scientific and practical recommendations for modernizing the social credit system in the Russian Federation. Methodology: The study is based on an integrated approach, the implementation of which involves the use of the dialectical method, as well as methods of logical and comparative analysis, deduction and induction using observation and expert questioning, thereby ensuring a high level of data reliability when processing empirical material as the basis for conclusions and proposals. Results: a conceptual conflict is established in the theoretical and methodological basis of the social credit system, and a notion and theoretical justification for this definition are proposed, allowing one to crystallize the economic essence of social credits. It is substantiated that the current social credit system in Russia focuses on the mortgage component, in which the level of paternalism is higher than the social effect from the use of budget funds. State programs to support social credit system are systematized, clarifying their conditions and impact on competition and paternalism in this area. Recommendations for modernizing the social credit system are substantiated, based on the introduction of social rating elements into the current system, developed and successfully tested in China. The author's program “Preferential Loan” is proposed, combining elements of the social credit system in force in Russia and the social rating system of the People's Republic of China. An original mechanism for modernizing social credit system in the Russian Federation has been developed, which includes the subjects of the system, the substantive aspect of the relationship between them, digital technologies and information infrastructure.

Inaugural Essay Russia – Ukraine War and the Contest for a NewWorld Order: A Global South Perspective

It has been over 300 days since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The war between Russia and Ukraine, which began in 2014, has largely been viewed from a Eurocentric or Western perspective. From a Global South perspective, this crisis can be seen as part of a broader pattern of great powers’ competition for influence and control in the region, often at the expense of smaller, weaker states. The conflict also has ramifications throughout the world, as countries scramble to align themselves with either Russia or the West, thereby exacerbating existing political and economic tensions. Additionally, the conflict has come at a huge humanitarian cost, with thousands of people displaced and suffering as a result of the fighting. Furthermore, the economic sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine could be seen as further exacerbating economic and political instability in the Global South. These countries have criticized the sanctions for their impact on the global economy and for causing economic hardship for their own citizens. In a major speech on the war in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden argued that the conflict is a clear test for democracies around the world, and he portrayed the Ukrainian resistance against Russian forces as part of a “great battle for freedom:” “a battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force” (The White House, 2022).

The Wagner Group as a Tool of Russian Hybrid Warfare

Unrest, conflicts, and wars in various parts of the world have created huge political and business opportunities for private military companies. They can gather intelligence, provide security for rich and powerful political actors, and provide mercenaries to interest groups worldwide. Private Russian military forces with close ties to President Vladimir Putin are used in war zones and continue expanding their presence in many regions worldwide. The Wagner Group is the most famous Russian mercenary unit. It gained notoriety mainly by supporting Russian forces in the conflict in Ukraine in 2014. At that time, it also provided one of the services that the authorities in the Kremlin particularly appreciate in their actions, and that is the lack of attribution for conducting armed conflicts, thanks to which mercenaries play the role of separatist fighters. Since then, the organisation has been deployed in many countries, including Syria, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Venezuela, always to covertly support representatives of regimes favoured by Putin. Like all other mercenary units in Russia, the Wagner Group does not officially exist, because Russian law does not allow mercenary activities. The article has two main objectives: first, to present an analysis of the activities of the Wagner Group, using the currently available information; second, to prove that the concept of hybrid warfare could best explain the Kremlin’s use of Russian mercenaries.

Russia’s Strategic Failure in Ukraine

While the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 certainly had the immediate goal of eliminating pro-Western leadership and replacing it with a puppet, this strategic move was not successful, and the invasion has now escalated into a full-blown war. This article investigates the challenges involved and the variables that have contributed to Russia’s strategic decision to have Ukraine on its side becoming one in which it battles to maintain its hold on the tiny portions of Ukraine that it controls. Why has Russia failed to achieve its goal, and what elements will continue to influence the ongoing conflict? This study highlights both internal and external reasons that have influenced the nature of the war, including the Ukrainian political leadership’s willingness to take a permanent stand against Moscow’s age-old plan to annex Ukraine and deprive it of its freedom. The report concluded that Russia’s strategic approach not only failed in Ukraine but also complicated its relations with most of the states on its western borders, making its plan to keep Ukraine or any eastern European nation in its sphere of influence nearly impossible. The document urges a diplomatic settlement to the war while noting that this is problematic in light of Moscow’s unwillingness to yield and Kyiv’s desire to withdraw Russian forces from all of its areas unconditionally.

ДОКТРИНА ЗОВНІШНЬОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА БАЙДЕНА ТА ЗБІЛЬШЕННЯ ПІДТРИМКИ УКРАЇНИ

The purpose of this article is to analyze the United States’ support to Ukraine during the war with Russia, as well as in the months leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This issue remains relevant to conceptualizing US assistance to Ukraine to expel Russian forces from its territory. In particular, we claim that among other policy alternatives, the Biden administration deliberately chose to support Ukraine «for as long as it takes». Thus, we analyze the amount and comprehensiveness of support to Ukraine, which we consider to be in Washington’s core interests, as well as US efforts in terms of policy-making. The methodological design of the study is based on discourse analysis as a major method, which allowed us to examine the policy choice of the Biden administration to provide massive and comprehensive support to Ukraine in a critical time of need. When describing US assistance, we apply historical institutionalism and rational choice institutionalism as the major theoretical paradigms, as there are features of both used by the United States in its bilateral relations with Ukraine. We operate within a confirmatory research design, where the major method is hypothesis testing. The scientific novelty consists of an attempt to conceptualize the so-called Biden doctrine in the context of American assistance to Ukraine in order to sustain it in the war against Russia. We test our hypothesis on three major dimensions: the President’s authority, Congress and the U.S. leadership of NATO, and the Defense Contact Group. The authors conclude that the amount of US support to Ukraine and its comprehensiveness, particularly economic and military aid, indicate that the Biden administration viewed Ukraine as a test of its vision of foreign policy, namely that democracies should prevail over autocracies. Therefore, the unprecedented amount of aid allocated to Ukraine suggests that the support will last as long as it takes.

THE LONG ARM OF UNITED STATES LAW IN WARTIME: POTENTIAL UKRAINIAN SUITS FOR RUSSIAN ATROCITIES

This article makes a legal argument that Ukrainian victims of Russia’s war of aggression can sue for damages in U.S. courts. The extraterritorial reach of the Alien Tort Claims Act enables noncitizens to seek redress for harm caused by violations of treaty or customary law. Russian forces in Ukraine have violated the 1907 Hague Convention and the Nuremberg precedent. The U.S. Supreme Court, like the British House of Lords, takes exception to International Court of Justice doctrine that says high officials of a foreign state enjoy absolute sovereign immunity. The I.C.J. rule does not protect most sub-cabinet officials. The Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act recognizes immunity of a foreign state but not its officials at any level, and never in a “terrorism” case. Ukraine’s president asked Washington to designate Russia as a terrorist state, which would allow Ukrainians having certain U.S. connections to sue the the Russian Federation. Even without a “terrorism” finding, the Alien Tort Claims Act lets any injured Ukrainians sue individual Russians for violations of the law of war. Assets held in the U.S. or U.K. by defendants found liable may be subject to seizure and used to satisfy civil judgments in wartime cases.

Statistical Assessment of the Impact of Socio-Economic Factors on the Russian Labour Force

Statistical study of the labor force allows us to solve many issues, both for the state and for enterprises of different levels by means of methodological and theoretical foundations in the field of labor force study. The article reviews the literature and methodological approaches characterizing the labor force in Russia. The authors consider information and methodological bases of the study, as well as the problems of studying the labor force in Russia. Based on the compiled information base, a system of indicators has been compiled for further research. The article analyzes the direction and speed of change in the total number of workers in the period from 2010 to 2020, both in Russia as a whole and in the context of federal districts. The territories that underwent the most significant transformations during the study period are identified. The paper considers the constituent elements of the labor force, including employment and unemployment of the population from the perspective of the direction and speed of change and structural transformations. In order to determine the key factors influencing the change in the number of workers, the article implements a correlation analysis. As a result, the dependencies of the seven most significant socio-economic indicators were revealed.

Psycho-Emotional State of Ukrainian Soldiers Before Going to the Frontline

The aim of the study is to investigate the psychological state of the soldiers before they go to the battle space. The article shows the Assessment of people’s behavior, their psycho-emotional characteristics, and the degree of their adaptability in extreme conditions. This interest has increased even further due to the intensification of hostilities in Ukraine since February 2022 after the invasion of Russian forces on its territory. Extreme situations, including military conflicts, largely affect people’s ability to withstand stress, and their willingness to survive these events safely and develop a sufficient degree of adaptability in themselves. Researchers examine the psycho-emotional state of an individual from the standpoint of different theoretical positions. Conclusions. This study has shown that the current psycho-emotional state of Ukrainian military personnel who are preparing to go to the front line is characterized by a low degree of anxiety, increased aggressiveness, and the ability to adapt to environmental conditions easily, set goals and achieve them. At the same time, the military of Ukraine also show symptoms of stress, and some signs of neuropsychic instability, psychopathy, hysteria, paranoia, and psychasthenia. These personality traits may be directly related to the nature of their professional activities and an increased sense of awareness of their own significance and importance in combat conditions. In general, the listed features of the psycho-emotional state are evidence of the readiness of Ukrainian service members to participate in the war and their ability to perform their duties effectively.

Ukrainian wartime policy and the construction of women's combatant status

This article examines the role of gender in the designation of individuals as civilians and as combatants in the Ukraine conflict (2014–2022). In particular, I explore how gendered decisions by the state have created a conceptual gray zone regarding the combatant status of women through an analysis of three key Ukrainian government policy decisions: the February 2015 military mobilization of women, the December 2021 requirement that professional women register for conscription, and the February 2022 declaration of martial law. I demonstrate that while the Ukrainian state seeks to benefit operationally from women in combatant roles, the need for additional (wo)manpower has come into conflict with gender norms that position women as civilians, even in the context of war. The state's gender ideology simultaneously denies men the status of civilians despite their greater likelihood of being targeted by Russian forces. These gendered policy decisions have forced combatant status on men while making most women's combatant status voluntary.

SNAKE ISLAND – BLACK SEA STRATEGIC AREA

In this article, we will analyze the strategic importance of the Snake Island for the entire Black Sea area and even the European and NATO countries, which are non-riparian states. Utilizing historical analysis as a research method, we will objectively state the importance of the island throughout history while also pointing out some contemporary elements. In addition, we will focus on the political, military, and economic factors that motivated Russian forces' decision to launch an attack on the first day that hostilities broke out between Ukraine and Russia. For this reason, after Ukraine had already lost both control of the Crimean Peninsula and free access to the Azov Sea, the seizure of Snake Island by Russian forces was most likely planned well in advance, as a tactical operation with strategic implications, for the purpose of cutting off Ukraine’s maritime routes and denying access to all of its sea lines of communication. Another factor of great importance is the island's location, which presents the possibility of basing military assets on the island in order to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations and even pose a threat on the eastern frontier of NATO with the probable deployment of mobile multi-layered missile systems

Ukrainian chemists persevered

On Feb. 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. People watched the news in horror. Many chemists outside the country were particularly concerned for their friends and colleagues working in the Ukrainian chemical industry. They also worried about the impact on drug discovery projects around the world as supplies from Ukraine halted. Over the past 30 years, Ukraine’s chemists have become integral to the drug discovery ecosystem, providing research services and complex molecules in the hunt for new drug leads. When Ukrainian firms like Enamine, Life Chemicals, and OTAVAchemicals stopped operating at the time of the invasion, it created a vacuum. These contract research organizations, or CROs, were founded after the fall of the Soviet Union. Based mostly around Kyiv, they employ many chemists who provide medicinal chemistry services to the rest of the world, synthesizing and supplying large libraries of small molecules that researchers can use in early-stage research. As

Setting the level of design inputs for the seismic stability structures

The paper deals with the task of setting the level of the design input for assessing the structure seismic resistance. An increase in the expected peak ground accelerations with the development of the earthquake engineering from 1 m/s2 to 7 m/s2 is noted. The absence of a correlation between the peak ground accelerations and the seismic action intensity, as well as the dependence of the peak ground accelerations on the action spectral composition, is explained. A method of determining the ground design acceleration using the standard seismic scale in force in Russia is shown. The illogicality of setting the design input according to of the Guidelines “Earthquake Engineering” in force in Russia is shown and ways of correcting the current situation are indicated. It is noted that to solve the problem of setting the design input, no seismic zoning maps are required. Information on seismic hazard can be represented by a single number characterizing the relationship between the intensity and repeatability of the action on the construction site. The relationship between the design accelerations stated in the «Earthquake Engineering» Guidelines and the peak ground accelerations in the «Seismic Intensity Scale» State Standard is explained. The approach described in the paper is the basis for input setting for performance-based designing.