Introduction. At the end of 1936 the new Constitution of the Soviet Union was adopted by the Extraordinary VIII All-Union Congress of Soviets, the supreme organ of the state power, which was specially convened for this purpose. Having replaced the first Constitution of the USSR of 1924, the new Stalin Constitution had significantly revised the structure of the Soviet state and society affecting, among other things, the system of state government bodies. Now the bicameral Supreme Soviet of the USSR was proclaimed the supreme legislative body of the country, which was to be formed through the universal, equal and direct elections with secret ballot (Article 30 of the Constitution of 1936). Even though from the dogmatic-legal point of view, the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR were democratic, in reality they were completely controlled by the party authorities. This circumstance has been many times discussed in the scientific literature, however, up until now, the scientific papers studying the features of the electoral procedures in the USSR have often relied on the insufficiently broad document database, which was the reason for creating the politicized hypotheses lacking the scientific objectivity or emergence of outright falsification of the political history of the 1930s. Therefore, the relevance of further research on the USSR electoral processes increases, as well as of expansion of the empirical evidence base underlying the respective research to include the regional materials. The aim of the research is to analyse the previously unpublished archival documents; to identify the relationship between the norms of the Soviet electoral law of the 1930s and practices of political and administrative preparation for the USSR Supreme Soviet elections of 1937 in the Rostov Region; to determine the efficiency of the tools used by the Stalin’s regime to manage the electoral process; to establish the extent the elections to the Supreme Soviet were connected to the repressive campaign of 1937–1938.

Materials and Methods. The paper is based on the materials of the Rostov Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) stored in the Centre for Documentation of Contemporary History of the Rostov Region (CDNI RO). The materials included the reports of the District and Town Party Committees and NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) units describing in detail and without euphemisms (since the information was intended for a narrow circle of people) the preparation for the elections and the problems and difficulties faced by the local authorities. The periodicals of that time were studied. The research methodology included the general scientific and specific juridical methods, i.e. historical-legal and legalistic (dogmatic-legal).

Results. The article studies the economic conditions and political situation that had developed in the Rostov region by the end of the 1930s. It investigates the norms of the USSR Constitution of 1936 and the main legal acts, which enshrined the features of the electoral process of the 1937 elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The article substantiates the authors’ opinion about inconsistency of the attitudes existing in the literature to claim the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to be the cause of the Great Purge (Great Terror) of 1937: the Supreme Soviet only formally was the supreme power body of the country, in fact the Soviet Union was governed by the high-ranking party nomenclature headed by the General Secretary. The preparation for the elections to the Supreme Soviet was not the cause, but a component of the Great Purge (Great Terror), since the preparation was carried out by the authority representatives and employees of the state security apparatus using the preventive and repressive-punitive measures across a wide range of anti-Soviet-minded persons (clergy, believers, former Socialist Revolutionaries, Cossack re-emigrants, kulaks, etc.). Thus, the filtration measures carried out by the NKVD units in 1937 in the frame of preparation for the elections to the Supreme Soviet became an important element of the repressive campaign launched at that time and they achieved the goal set forward. On the election day, December 12, 1937, the voter turnout was high everywhere, and the voting results served the formal evidence of Soviet people full trust in their government and complete support of the political regime existing in the USSR.

Discussion and Conclusion. The elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which took place on December 1937 and from a dogmatic-legal point of view were democratic (universal, equal, direct, with secret ballot), in reality were the result of a grandiose-scale campaign initiated by the Stalin’s regime and carried out under the rigid control of the party authorities. For successful implementation of this campaign, not only the administrative resources of the Soviet state and the agitation and propaganda apparatus were mobilized but also the enormous capacities of the state security apparatus: the agitation and propaganda apparatus prepared the public opinion for the election scenario desirable for the Communist Party, and the state security apparatus concentrated its efforts on removing “socially alien”, oppositionally-minded and undesirable to the Stalin’s regime persons from the society. That made it impossible for such persons to participate in the electoral procedures. Due to repressions the unwanted for the Communist Party excesses during the elections were excluded and large-scale protest voting prevented.

Introduction. Legal regulation of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the state governance framework is important due to the rapid development of the respective technologies, which are already integrated into the work of the bodies of government power of the Russian Federation. Implementation of AI opens up new opportunities for optimisation of processes, increase of transparency and expansion of accessibility of government services. At the same time, it causes a number of difficult problems for the legislation to solve: from ensuring ethical standards and protecting personal data to development of the adequate legal mechanisms regulating the interaction between a human and a machine. Modern society requires the legal system to be flexible and efficient to correspond to the technological progress dynamics. Therefore, it is necessary not only to revise the acting legal norms, but also to determine the principles for the new AI-related legal norms to be built on. Only thoroughly elaborated legal regulation can create an environment, where the innovative solutions harmoniously complement the traditional institutions without infringing the rights of citizens, thus, strengthening citizens’ trust in the state authorities. The aim of the study is to investigate in detail the key problems, challenges and opportunities induced by the integration of AI into state governance in the Russian Federation, as well as to reason the need for forming a comprehensive legal regulation that simultaneously fosters the technological development of society and ensures protection of the citizens’ rights.

Materials and Methods. The dialectical-materialistic approach was used as the main methodological tool, which allowed us to analyse the evolution of legal norms and the main trends of their application in the context of continuous technological development. Due to the use of historical, logical, system and functional analysis methods, it became possible to trace the development of the legislative initiatives referring to AI, identify the relationships between the norms of various branches of law, as well as to prove the importance of legal system holism and to study the legal norms as the tools for achieving the state goals and ensuring protection of interests of the Russian citizens.

Results. Several pivotal results concerning legal regulation of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in the state governance framework in Russia were distinguished. The necessity of separating the concepts of “Smart Information Systems” (SIS) and "Artificial Intelligence Systems" (AIS) was substantiated. The expediency of creating a juridical classification of AIS by the level of autonomy and potential threat to the information security was proved. The need for development and adoption of the uniform ethical standards regulating the use of AI was reasoned, since in the context of the digital restructuring of state institutions, a uniform system of ethical standards would serve a basis for maintaining social sustainability and strengthening public trust in the state authorities. Particular attention was paid to the risk-oriented approach to implementation of AI into the work of the bodies of government power, which enables the distribution of the areas of responsibility and development of mechanisms for monitoring the crucial-decision-making systems.

Discussion and Conclusion. Discussion of the legal framework for the use of artificial intelligence has now a leading position in the agenda of any state. Based on the international experience, Russia can form its own system of normative legal regulation aimed at reducing risks without infringing constitutional rights and freedoms. However, the process of developing and adapting the legislation on the use of AI in state governance framework requires close cooperation between scientists, jurists, programmers, and public officers. Only efficient cooperation of all stakeholders can ensure the harmonious coexistence of the trustworthy legal institutions and advanced technologies, and form a basis for the sustainable development of society. Future scientific research should be aimed at developing a harmonious legal model that would combine ethical principles, requirements to quality of data, and reliable procedures for monitoring algorithms and their results.

Introduction. Studying the role and influence of the foreign agents on public consciousness and political processes in Russia in the context of information warfare is relevant due to the negative consequences their activity has on the society during the special military operation in conditions of the unprecedented sanctions pressure of the collective West. Disinformation, destructive propaganda, manipulation of consciousness, influence on the psyche, digital technologies used by the foreign agents urge the country's authorities to undertake legal measures to counteract their activity. Therefore, it is expedient to study in more detail the modern concepts referring to the information warfare and the foreign agents’ activity posing threat to the national security of the Russian Federation. The aim of the research is to study and analyse the normative-legal acts regulating control over activity of the foreign agents in Russia, their status and role in the information warfare, as well as to develop recommendations for improving the state policy on counteracting the threats in the information space.

Materials and Methods. The study was conducted using the dialectical method as the main method of cognition, along with the content analysis of the normative-legal acts, historical-comparative, structural-functional methods and method of linguistic analysis.

Results. A brief substantiation of the growing popularity of the information warfare tactics was given. The main features of foreign agents, the methods of disinformation and manipulation of public opinion used by them, and their influence on the political and social processes in the country were analysed. The existing in the Russian Federation measures of counteracting the information warfare and the activity of the foreign agents were evaluated, and gaps in the legislation were identified. The need to prepare a new federal law protecting against disinformation but respecting the right to freedom of speech was substantiated, as well as the need to improve the technical means of ensuring the information security of Russia.

Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study are intended to complement and expand the scientific understanding of the status and role of the foreign agents in the modern information warfare, their key strategies of influencing the most vulnerable groups of population, measures of improving the legal regulation of the foreign agents’ activity in the modern geopolitical realities. Also, the study can serve a basis for further research in the field of information warfare and the influence of foreign agents on the international relations and the internal affairs of the state.

Introduction. Intense implementation of the information technologies into the socio-political relationships broadens the opportunities of the citizens to participate in management of the state affairs, and creates conditions for forming a qualitatively new level of civil activity of population. Nowadays, remote electronic voting (REV) is one of the mechanisms aimed to improve the electoral process, therefore it is an object of great interest for both the scholars studying the electoral technologies and voters themselves. The aim of the research is to identify and analyse the problems arising during implementation of the remote electronic voting systems in Russia and foreign countries for elaborating the appropriate efficient solutions, as well as to evaluate the prospects of development of this innovative trend.

Materials and Methods. In the frame of the research, a combination of philosophical, general scientific and specific scientific methods was used.

Results. A comprehensive analysis of legal regulation of remote electronic voting in Russia and abroad was carried out, along with studying its advantages and disadvantages. Proposals on improving REV further implementation to foster increase of trust in its results were elaborated, which included development of a mechanism ensuring legally binding power of this method of voters’ will expression. Moreover, an efficient method of REV process public control was offered. On the whole, advantages of REV over its disadvantages were substantiated, compared to the traditional paper ballot voting system. However, conclusion was drawn about possibility of making REV efficient only on condition of electoral system overcoming legal, organisational and technical challenges to ensure the principles of suffrage during e-voting.

Discussion and Conclusion. The issues of remote electronic voting implementation in Russia require close attention of the state and society. It would be relevant to accelerate improvement of legal regulation of these social relationships based on the experience already gained by the foreign countries. The theoretical provisions formulated in the article can be used in further scientific research on this topic.

Introduction. In recent years, studying the legitimacy of breeding the farm animals and bees on the horticultural and other type of private land plots of citizens becomes an increasingly relevant issue. On the one hand, the proprietors can freely own, use and dispose of their real estate objects, as specified in Article 209 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. On the other hand, Article 36 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as other federal laws, state that the actions of a land plot proprietor must not contradict the law and violate the rights and legitimate interests of other persons. The acing federal legislation provides answers only to the part of the above questions, thus, entitling the courts and local governments to resolve the problem by determining the parameters and types of permitted use of the land plots within the boundaries of a municipality in compliance with the Rules for Land Use and Development. The article aims to study the existing legal and regulatory framework referring to keeping the farm animals on the horticultural and other type of land plots of citizens, to analyse the current judicial practices, as well as to identify gaps in the Land Law and other laws of the Russian Federation and propose the optimal juridical solutions to this problem.

Materials and Methods. A number of general scientific and specific scientific methods were used within the research, in particular, the dialectical, systemic, logical, dogmatic-legal and comparative-legal methods, as well as the legal modeling method.

Results. It has been ascertained that the acting federal laws of the Russian Federation do not clearly elucidate the eligibility of breeding farm animals or bees on the horticultural land plots, or the lands designated for individual housing construction (IHC). Even in the cases when such possibility is deemed acceptable, the kind and number of animals permitted for keeping on a plot, as well as the procedure for resolving the neighbour disputes remain unclear (some interesting cases from judicial practices have been provided). A number of legal measures have been proposed to solve the problem under study: implementation of animal classification norms; prohibition on keeping farm animals on horticultural and IHC land plots located within the city borders; permission on breeding animals on agricultural land plots, as well as on household plots of personal subsidiary farming in quantities determined by the Veterinary and Sanitary Normative Legislation; development of the concept of Neighbour’s Rights followed by drafting the Neighbour Law including the legal mechanisms for mitigating and resolving conflicts between the neighbours.

Discussion and Conclusion. In Russia, appropriate legal regulation of relationships of the horticultural land plot proprietors is required, since almost half of the country’s population can be referred to gardeners, and this trend is still growing. Foreign experience could be quite useful for the Russian scientists to study. For example, Neighbour Law is well developed in the most European countries, where the relevant norms are directly included into the Civil and other type of legislative acts. In China, land categories are distinguished more clearly at the legislative level, environmental standards (especially in the city neighbourhood) are stricter, and small-scale animal farms are permitted only in rural areas.

Introduction. Within modern business processes, the use of digital technologies grows due to their ability to accelerate and increase transparency and efficiency of operations. However, within the legal regulation systems there arise the problems of objective monitoring of enterprise digital activity, preventing potential risks and establishing measures of liability for offenses and damages caused by the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The features of rapidly digitalized legal relationships in the frame of the Commercial Law still remain insufficiently studied, e.g.: identifying signs of AI systems while entering business deals, signing contracts and performing other kind of business activities, which imply automation by means of computer algorithms. Therefore determination of the efficiency of digital solutions, AI legal personality and liability of the parties involved is required. The aim of the present research is to carry out an in-depth analysis of the Commercial and Entrepreneurial Law status quo in Russia in the context of AI systems integration into the business sector.

Materials and Methods. Within the research, the works of scholars from different countries referring to the regulatory framework for distribution and use of AI systems have been studied. A number of general scientific and specific scientific methods have been used including descriptive, analytical, structuring, modeling and forecasting methods.

Results. Despite the significant advantages of AI systems as the electronic agents, digital intermediaries, data processing algorithms and document flow automation means, it has been ascertained, that their use in business sector requires in depth revision of legislation and contractual framework to develop a management system with flexible differentiated approach, capable of taking into account the features of AI legal personality and entailed risk limitations and rational distribution of liabilities.

Discussion and Conclusion. Working capacity and unlimited capabilities of the artificial intelligence surpass the human ones in some parameters, therefore there grows the need to amend the Commercial and Entrepreneurial Law currently acting in the country. The range of problems arising in the context of digitalization of business structures cannot be resolved by issuing separate governmental directives. Thus, a comprehensive reconsideration of the acting regulatory doctrines is necessary.