Memorial legislation of the Russian Federation as occupation policy tool: historical and legal analysis (Part IІ. Evolution and essence of Russian memorial legislation)
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Abstract. The goal is to analyze the stages of development and the historical and legal essence of the Russian Federation memorial legislation as a tool of the Kremlin's occupation policy, in particular in the Ukrainian territories seized since 2014, with the aim to clarify the legitimating potential of the relevant regulatory and legal acts, establishing the degree of their legal imperfection and historical legal error.
Scientific novelty. Russian memorial policy is focused on “anti-Nazi” legislation, in which criminal and administrative articles for the rehabilitation of Nazism, insulting war memory, and denial of “historical truth” repeatedly appeared, were supplemented, and constantly became more brutal. The memorial law of 2014 was the result of V. Putin's personal efforts to “manage” historical interpretations. In 2020, the Kremlin's official historical narrative was enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. This change in the act of higher legal power for the first time in world practice normatively raised the issue of protection of historical truth by means of the national legal system. In this way, the monopoly of the Russian state on “historical truth” is clearly established. Bringing the memorial legislation of the Russian Federation to the constitutional level was the symbolic step that has equated historical expression with political action.
The segment of memorial legislation in the Russian Federation also includes relevant measures aimed at censorship of historical memory. Russian humanitarianism characterizes the modern memorial legislation of the Russian Federation quite ambiguously: some researchers are categorically against it, rightly emphasizing the “democratic underdevelopment” of Russia, while another group, on the contrary, fully supports the relevant Kremlin initiatives. The aggressiveness of the Russian memorial legislation contains considerable danger both for the development of historical science in Russia and for the work of professional historians there. In addition to the socio-political context, the memorial legislation of the Russian Federation has a number of significant shortcomings and contradictions in the field of purely legal application. First of all, from the point of view of legal science, the legal regulation in the field of historical research and collective memory is quite questionable.
Conclusions. Modern Russian memorial legislation is a political phenomenon rather than a legal one, and is aimed at solving the current tasks declared by the Kremlin dictator, as well as at satisfying his neo-imperial delusions. Memorial legislation of the Russian Federation is a political tool for establishing a state monopoly on “historical truth” and reflects the desire of the helmsman of this state to completely control the historical narrative and impose his own historical canon not only on his subjects, but also on neighboring states. This politics of memory is based on the “myth of the war”, which is designed to keep the former Soviet republics and, above all, Ukraine, which is moving further and further to the European Union, from the Russian orbit. Awareness of the specifics of Russian memorial legislation allow, in the end, make it possible to build more efficient model of de-occupation of Ukrainian territories, in particular, in the field of memory policy.
Article Details
References
Abdullayev, M., Gamidov, I. Nekotoryye politiko-pravovyye aspekty protivodeystviya reabilitatsii natsizma [Some political and legal aspects of counteracting the rehabilitation of Nazism]. Zakon i pravo. 2019. № 7. [in Russian].
Anikin, D. Travmatizatsiya istoricheskoy pamyati v sovremennoy teorii istorii: mnogoobraziye ob"yasnitel'nykh modeley [Traumatization of historical memory in modern theory of history: variety of explanatory models]. Izvestiya obshchestva arkheologii, istorii i etnografii pri Kazanskom universitete. 2020. Vyp. 40. [in Russian].
Antonyan, Yu. Antinauchnyye popytki opravdaniya natsizma v sovremennoy Rossii [Anti-scientific attempts to justify Nazism in modern Russia]. Rossiyskiy kriminologicheskiy vzglyad. 2008. № 4. [in Russian].
Artamonov, D., Tikhonova, S. Istoricheskaya spravedlivost' v sisteme tseley gosudarstvenno-pravovoy politiki pamyati RF [Historical justice in the system of goals of state-legal policy of memory of the Russian Federation]. Spravedlivost' v postsovetskom pravoporyadke: ponyatiye, printsip, tsel': sbornik statey. Moskva: Yurlitinform, 2021. [in Russian].
Astafichev, P. Istoricheskaya pravda kak kategoriya sovremennogo konstitutsionnogo prava: opyt konstitutsionnykh popravok 2020 g. [Historical truth as a category of modern constitutional law: the experience of constitutional amendments in 2020] Vestnik Universiteta im. O. Kutafina (MGYUA). 2021. № 5. [in Russian].
Astafichev, P. Obespecheniye zashchity istoricheskoy pravdy kak novyy printsip v konstitutsionnom prave sovremennoy Rossii [Ensuring the protection of historical truth as a new principle in the constitutional law of modern Russia]. Pravoprimeneniye. 2020. № 4. [in Russian].
Belavusau, U. Final Thoughts on Mnemonic Constitutionalism. VerfBlog, 2018. Retriеved from https://verfassungsblog.de/final-thoughts-on-mnemonic-constitutionalism
Boginska, I. (2021) Konflikty pam’yati v mizhnarodnyh vidnosynah [Memory conflicts in international communication. Regional studios]. Regionalni studiyi. № 24. [in Ukrainian].
Bredihin, A. (2020) Pravovaya reglamentaciya borby s falsifikaciej istorii Rossii [Legal regulation of the fight against falsification of Russian history. Economy. Sociology. Law]. Ekonomika. Sociologiya.Pravo. № 4. [in Russian]
Bredihin, A. (2021) Ugolovno-pravovye sredstva v sisteme osushestvleniya ideologicheskoj funkcii gosudarstva [Criminal legal means in the system of implementing the ideological function of the state. Lawyer – Lawyer]. Yurist – Pravoved. № 3. [in Russian].
Chervonnyh, E. (2015) Ugolovno-pravovaya harakteristika prestuplenij, predusmotrennyh statej 354.1 «Reabilitaciya nacizma» UK RF, i otdelnye problemy ee pravoprimeneniya [Criminal legal characteristics of crimes provided for in Article 354.1 “Rehabilitation of Nazism” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and certain problems of its enforcement. Problems of law enforcement]. Problemy pravoohranitelnoj deyatelnosti. № 4. [in Russian].
Dorskaya, A. (2022) Rol oficialnoj politiki pamyati v processe samoidentifikacii gosudarstv v XXI veke: pravovoe izmerenie [The role of official memory policy in the process of self-identification of states in the 21st century: legal dimension. Forensic specialist]. Kriminalist. № 4. [in Russian].
Dorskaya, A. A., Dorskij, A. Yu. (2020) Memorialnye zakony kak instrument legitimacii vlasti [Memorial laws as a tool for legitimizing power. Bulletin of St. Petersburg University. Series: Law].Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Seriya: Pravo. № 1. [in Russian].
Dorskij, A., Chernogor, N. (2019) Vtoraya mirovaya vojna kak socialnaya travma: sravnitelnyj analiz rossijskogo i francuzskogo zakonodatelstva [The Second World War as a social trauma: a comparative analysis of Russian and French legislation. Bulletin of St. Petersburg University. Series: Law]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Seriya: Pravo. № 2. [in Russian].
Dyachenko, A. (2020) Obosnovannost kriminalizacii reabilitacii nacizma v svete ogranicheniya prava na svobodu slova [The validity of the criminalization of the rehabilitation of Nazism in the light of restrictions on the right to freedom of speech. Issues of Russian justice]. Voprosy rossijskoj yusticii. № 9. [in Russian].
Egorova, N. (2015) Reabilitaciya nacizma: ugolovno-pravovoj analiz [Rehabilitation of Nazism: criminal legal analysis. Criminological journal of the Baikal State University of Economics and Law]. Kriminologicheskij zhurnal Bajkalskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta ekonomiki i prava. T. 9, № 3. [in Russian].
Gavrilov, D., Gavrilova, V. (2022) Pravovye osnovy gosudarstvennoj politiki pamyati v Rossijskoj Federacii [Legal foundations of state memory policy in the Russian Federation. Bulletin of the Volgograd Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia]. Vestnik Volgogradskoj Akademii MVD Rossii. № 1. [in Russian].
Golovashina, O. (2021) Pole bitvy – pamyat: memorialnoe zakonodatelstvo na postsovetskom prostranstve [Battlefield – memory: memorial legislation in the post-Soviet space. Law: history and modernity]. Pravo: istoriya i sovremennost. № 2. [in Russian].
Gribanov, E., Yablonskij, I. (2017) Ugolovnaya otvetstvennost za reabilitaciyu nacizma: istorikopravovye osnovaniya i harakteristika [Criminal liability for the rehabilitation of Nazism: historical and legal grounds and characteristics. Society and law]. Obshestvo i pravo. № 1. [in Russian]
Hardel, R. (2021) Istorychna polityka Rosijskoyi Federaciyi yak zagroza nacionalnij bezpeci Ukrayiny [Historical policy of the Russian Federation as a threat to the national security of Ukraine. Military Science Newsletter]. Vijskovo-naukovij visnik. № 36. [in Ukrainian].
Ivashevskij, S. (2022) Realizaciya memorialnogo zakonodatelstva v rossijskom obrazovanii [Implementation of memorial legislation in Russian education. Bulletin of the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Management]. Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo instituta upravleniya. № 1. [in Russian].
Khapaeva, D. Triumphant memory of the perpetrators: Putin’s politics of re-Stalinization. Communist and Post-Communist Studies. University of California (Oakland), 2016.Vol. 49, no. 1.
Kibalnik, A., Ivanov, A. (2015) Ugolovnaya otvetstvennost za reabilitaciyu nacizma (ch. 1, 2 st. 354.1 UK RF) [Criminal liability for the rehabilitation of Nazism (Parts 1, 2 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Criminal law]. Ugolovnoe pravo. № 4. [in Russian].
Koposov, N. Populism and Memory: Legislation of the Past in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. East European Politics and Societies and Cultures. 2022. Vol. 36, № 1.
Koposov, N. (2011) Pamyat strogogo rezhima: istoriya i politika v Rossii [High Security Memory: History and Politics in Russia]. Moskva: NLO [in Russian].
Koposov, N. (2014) Pamyat v zakone [Memory is in law. Russian magazine]. Russkij zhurnal. Retrieved from: http://www.russ.ru/Mirovaya-povestka/Pamyat-v-zakone. [in Russian].
Koposov, N. (2018) O novom polskom «memorialnom zakone» [About the new Polish “memorial law”. Portal “Gefter”]. Portal «Gefter». Retrieved from: https://gefter.ru/archive/24048. [in Russian].
Kozhevina, M. (2021) Realizaciya stati 67.1 Konstitucii Rossijskoj Federacii v kontekste nauchnogo istoriko-pravovogo opyta [Implementation of Article 67.1 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in the context of scientific historical and legal experience. Law Enforcement]. Pravoprimenenie. № 3.[in Russian]
Krivoruchenko, V.(2012) Borba s falsifikaciej istorii na postsovetskom prostranstve: istoriya ili politika? [The fight against falsification of history in the post-Soviet space: history or politics? Bulletin of RUDN University. Series: History of Russia]. Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Istoriya Rossii. № 4. [in Russian].
Kulikova, S., Kirnosov, I. (2022) Ohrana istoricheskoj pamyati kak institut konstitucionnogo prava: rossijskij i zarubezhnyj opyt [Protection of historical memory as an institution of constitutional law: Russian and foreign experience. News of Saratov University. New episode. Series: Economics. Control. Law]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya: Ekonomika. Upravlenie. Pravo. T. 22, vyp. 1. [in Russian].
Kurilla, I. (2014) Zakon o «reabilitacii nacizma». Ego smysl i ozhidaemye posledstviya [Law on the“rehabilitation of Nazism”. Its meaning and expected consequences]. PONARS Eurasia. Retrieved from: https://www.ponarseurasia.org/7240. [in Russian].
Kurilla, I. (2021) Istoriya kak yazyk politiki [History as the language of politics. New Past]. Novoe Proshloe. № 1. [in Russian].
Kurilla, I. (2022) Bitva za proshloe. Kak politika menyaet istoriyu [The battle for the past. How politics changes history]. Moskva: Alpina Pablisher [in Russian].
Laruelle, M. Negotiating History. Memory Wars in the Near Abroad and Pro-Kremlin Youth Movements.Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. Washington, 2011. Vol. 19, no. 3.
Levandovskaya, M. (2018) Reabilitaciya nacizma kak prestuplenie [Rehabilitation of Nazism as a crime. Bulletin of the University named after O.E. Kutafina (MSAL)]. Vestnik Universiteta imeni O.E. Kutafina (MGYuA). № 12. [in Russian].
Livcov, V., Pozhidaev, A. (2017) Problema falsifikacii istorii v kontekste realizacii gosudarstennoj politiki sohraneniya istoriko-kulturnogo naslediya [The problem of falsification of history in the context of the implementation of the state policy of preserving historical and cultural heritage. Bulletin of the Volga Region Institute of Management].Vestnik Povolzhskogo instituta upravleniya. № 5. [in Russian].
Maksimova, M., Nazmutdinova, D. (2018) Reabilitaciya nacizma: prichiny problem prakticheskogo primeneniya stati 354.1 UK RF [Rehabilitation of Nazism: causes of problems in the practical application of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Science Week of SPbPU]. Nedelya nauki SPbPU: sbornik trudov nauchnoj konferencii. Sankt-Peterburg. [in Russian].
Mälksoo, M. The Politics of Becoming European: A Study of Polish and Baltic Post-Cold Security Imaginaries. London: Routledge, 2010.
Maraeva, A. (2018) Istoriya stanovleniya zakonodatelstva ob otvetstvennosti za reabilitaciyu nacizma v Rossijskoj Federacii [History of the formation of legislation on responsibility for the rehabilitation of Nazism in the Russian Federation. Bulletin of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta MVD Rossii. № 6. [in Russian].
Maraeva, A. (2019) Voprosy tolkovaniya termina «reabilitaciya nacizma» primenitelno k st. 354.1
UK RF [Questions of interpretation of the term “rehabilitation of Nazism” in relation to Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Bulletin of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta MVD Rossii. № 4. [in Russian].
Matusevich, O. (2014) Memorialnoe zakonodatelstvo: genezis i protivorechiya [Memorial legislation: genesis and contradictions. Proceedings of BSTU]. Trudy BGTU. Minsk. № 5 [in Russian].
Meretukov, A. (2017) Aktualnye problemy protivodejstviya reabilitacii nacizma [Current problems of counteracting the rehabilitation of Nazism. Scientific journal of KubSAU]. Nauchnyj zhurnal KubGAU. № 10. [in Russian].
Miller, A. (2016) Politika pamyati v Rossii. Rol negosudarstvennyh agentov [The politics of memory in Russia. The role of non-state agents. History, memory, politics / ord. by G. Kasyanov, O. Gaidai].Istoriya, pam’yat, politika / uporyad. G. Kasyanov, O. Gajdaj. Kyiv: Institut istoriyi Ukrayini NANU [in Russian].
Misrokov, T., Teppeev, A. (2022) Deyatelnost organov vnutrennih del Rossijskoj Federacii po zashite istoricheskoj pamyati i protivodejstviyu popytkam falsifikacii istorii Rossii [Activities of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation to protect historical memory and counter attempts to falsify the history of Russia. Law and management]. Pravo i upravlenie. № 9. [in Russian].
Moskalev, G. (2022) Ohrana istoricheskoj pravdy: novaya zadacha rossijskogo prava [Protection of historical truth: a new task of Russian law. Journal of the Siberian Federal University. Humanitarian sciences]. Zhurnal Sibirskogo federalnogo universiteta. Gumanitarnye nauki. № 8. [in Russian].
Osipov, M. (2014) O nekotoryh problemah ispolzovaniya ugolovno-pravovoj tehniki na primere stati 354.1 UK RF «Reabilitaciya nacizma» [On some problems of using criminal law techniques using the example of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Rehabilitation of Nazism”. Legal science]. Yuridicheskaya nauka. № 2. [in Russian].
Rossiya: prestupleniya protiv istorii: doklad Mezhdunarodnoj federacii za prava cheloveka (FIDH)(2021) [Russia: crimes against history: report of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)]. [in Russian].
Rozhneva, S. (2018) Politika Prezidenta RF kak faktor transformacii istoricheskoj pamyati ob Oktyabrskoj revolyucii 1917 goda v sovremennoj Rossii [The policy of the President of the Russian Federation as a factor in the transformation of the historical memory of the October Revolution of 1917 in modern Russia. 20th century and Russia: society, reforms, revolutions]. XX vek i Rossiya: obshestvo, reformy, revolyucii. Vyp. 6. Samara. [in Russian].
Ryzhov, P. (2018) Ugolovnaya otvetstvennost za proyavleniya fashizma i nacizma v Rossijskoj Federacii [Criminal liability for manifestations of fascism and Nazism in the Russian Federation. Gaps in Russian legislation]. Probely v rossijskom zakonodatelstve. № 3. [in Russian].
Semennikov, A., Zadorozhnaya, I. (2021) Memorialnoe zakonodatelstvo Rossii: teoriya i praktika [Memorial legislation of Russia: theory and practice. Bulletin of military law]. Vestnik voennogo prava. № 2. [in Russian]
Skorobogatov, A. V., Skorobogatova, A. I. (2022) Memorialnoe zakonodatelstvo kak sredstvo konstruirovaniya rossijskoj grazhdanskoj identichnosti [Memorial legislation as a means of constructing Russian civil identity. Global conflict and the contours of a new world order]. Globalnyj konflikt i kontury novogo mirovogo poryadka. Sankt-Peterburg: SPbGUP. [in Russian].
Soroka, G. Combative Pasts: The Politics of History in Postcommunist Europe. New Eastern Europe. 2017. № 1 (XXV). [in English].
Soroka, G. The Politics of the Past: Polish-Soviet and Polish-Russian Efforts at Historical Reconciliation. Problems of Post-Communism. 2021. doi: 10.1080/10758216.2020.1844023. [in English].
Spiridonova, O.(2017) O chetkosti priznakov reabilitacii nacizma (ch. 3 st. 354.1 UK RF) v kontekste praktiki ih primeneniya [On the clarity of the signs of rehabilitation of Nazism (Part 3 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in the context of the practice of their application. Current problems of criminal law at the present stage (issues of differentiation of responsibility and legislative technique)]. Aktualnye problemy ugolovnogo prava na sovremennom etape (voprosy differenciacii otvetstvennosti i zakonodatelnoj tehniki). № 6. [in Russian].
Shamsunov, S. (2022) Ugolovno-pravovaya ohrana istoricheskoj pamyati narodov Rossijskoj Federacii o sobytiyah Vtoroj mirovoj i Velikoj otechestvennoj vojn: opyt sociologicheskogo issledovaniya [Criminal legal protection of the historical memory of the peoples of the Russian Federation about the events of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War: experience of sociological research. Penitentiary science]. Penitenciarnaya nauka. T. 16, № 2. [in Russian].
Sheveleva, K., Chestnov, N. (2022) O protivodejstvii falsifikacii istorii Velikoj Otechestvennoj vojny: pravovoj aspekt [On countering the falsification of the history of the Great Patriotic War: legal aspect. Legal order: history, theory, practice]. Pravoporyadok: istoriya, teoriya, praktika. № 3. [in Russian].
Verdihanova, A., Golubkova, N. (2022) Reabilitaciya nacizma i rasprostranenie neonacistskih vzglyadov kak formy ekstremistskoj deyatelnosti v sovremennyh usloviyah [Rehabilitation of Nazism and the spread of neo-Nazi views as a form of extremist activity in modern conditions. Electronic scientific journal “Science. Society. State”]. Elektronnyj nauchnyj zhurnal «Nauka. Obshestvo. Gosudarstvo». T. 10, № 4. [in Russian].