International Treaties as Sources of Criminal Law Prescriptions in Chapter 34 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The authors examine how Russian legislation can be brought in accord with Russia’s international obligations that are used in practice by the lawmakers in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: implementation and overt or covert reference. They analyze the examples of implementation and references in Champer 34 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the specifics of adding articles and the used legislative formulations. The authors present examples of a different scope of criminalizing an action at the domestic and the international levels. Besides, they highlight the problem of sometimes a considerable time gap between the ratification of an international treaty and its implementation in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and note that ratified but unimplemented international treaties are only a part of the Russian legal system, however, they are not sources of Russian criminal law. The research revealed that implementation is sometimes non-linear: several international treaties can be implemented into one Article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or, vice versa, one Article of the Code can determine liability for violating several international treaties. A special part of the work is devoted to studying the list of international agreements referred to in Art. 353–356, 360 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The analysis allowed the authors to conclude in which cases non-self-executing international treaties are the source of criminal law prescriptions. They also mention a new type of a blanket disposition introduced in 2014, which refers not to a normative act from a different sector, but to a court act (Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The authors conclude that in this case the Nuremberg Tribunal's decision will be a source of Russian criminal law. In conclusion the authors outline the most urgent problems at the legislative level that require scientific and practical solutions.