Current issue

The advancement of information technology and the digital economy pose a challenge that calls for developing specific legal approaches to comprehend phenomena such as marketplaces. This article reviews the stances adopted by Russian and international legislators regarding the understanding of marketplaces. It is shown that legislators apply a similar legal regulation logic and consider marketplaces as subjects in a legal relationship, defining them based on a set of distinctive traits. Some lawmakers take account of the general ambiguity in defining marketplaces given the existence of similar phenomena, such as online stores and information aggregators, and, consequently, establish additional criteria for recognising a specific online platform as a marketplace. This paper examines enforcement practices in the Russian Federation and other countries, uncovering legislative gaps, particularly concerning the complexities of marketplace civil liability. By consolidating research findings, a distinct set of features is formulated to differentiate marketplaces from similar phenomena like online stores and information aggregators. Furthermore, an approach is proposed, suggesting the consideration of marketplaces as a system of legal relationships. By using specific norms, this approach facilitates targeted regulation of private legal relationships between parties within this system. This necessity arises from the analysis of enforcement practices, as general norms of contract law are inadequate for properly regulating such relationships since these norms fail to consider the role of the key party, namely the marketplace.

This article analyses the theoretical provisions of international acts and domestic legislation regulating extradition and explores the interplay between international and national legal frameworks for extradition, focusing on a mechanism for safeguarding national interests within international treaties on extradition. The study follows the general research principle of objectivity, using, in particular, the formal legal method, abstraction, generalisation and general logical methods. The investigation of mechanisms for defending national interests when applying extradition norms made it possible to identify specific regulation problems. Factors hindering more effective implementation of the said provisions include their complexity, multi-level nature, insufficient legal regulation, the lack of bilateral treaties and the influence of national political dynamics on the implementation of international obligations. Analysing relevant legal norms and research perspectives leads to several conclusions. Firstly, there exists a fairly effective mechanism for safeguarding the national interests of countries party to multilateral international extradition treaties. Secondly, national legislation and regional or bilateral treaties can establish extradition conditions and procedures different from those outlined in universal international treaties for the sake of national interests. Thirdly, there is a need for improvement in the legal regulation of individual stages of the extradition procedure. These findings may be utilised in further research on extradition as a type of international cooperation in criminal proceedings. Therefore, comprehending the relationship between international and national extradition provisions is the key to a firm theoretical grasp of this institution and a common understanding of the legal phenomenon in research and law enforcement practice.

Local conditional landholding, which bolstered the rule of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, involved the utilisation of land parcels with diverse landscape characteristics, spanning from well-cultivated arable lands to less fertile areas covered with woods and shrubs. To ensure the stable existence of households, the Prussians were granted rights to fish and build watermills on their plots, along with cultivating the land. These rights, explored in this study within the chronological framework of 1242—1370, were universally applicable. A total of 308 persons of different property status, duties and juridical status enjoyed these rights. Most of them, 213 individuals, were lieges obligated to serve in the military, pay taxes or do both. Another 95 persons were lokatoren required to organise settlements on the plots granted by the Order or the Church. The fishing right was regulated by permitting the use of tools (hooks, gigs, fishing rods, waders and nets, except the seine, termed collectively ‘small gears’), sometimes accompanied by leave to build a barrage across the river. The right to build a watermill applied to erecting a one- or two-wheeled structure, typically encompassed by a plot of land measuring 0.5 to 2 huffen and subject to taxation ranging from two to three marks.

Ahead of the 300th anniversary of the philosopher Immanuel Kant’s birth, efforts are underway to digitally reconstruct the long-lost historical landscape of Königsberg, the birthplace of the ‘Prussian sage’. This article aims to recreate the architectural appearance of Altstädtischer Markt — the market street in the Old Town (Altstadt), one of the city’s districts. Three-dimensional models of the 18th-century public and residential buildings were constructed using surviving images of the market street-square alongside photographs, literature and research works, local history evidence, individual housing plans, design details and other data. Restoring the volumetric and spatial composition and external appearance of the facades is complicated by the absence of historical sources dating back to the study period when the aesthetic of buildings was dominated by the style features of late Baroque, Rococo and early Classicism. Although the houses retained their Medieval layout, the appearance of the street-square changed. The facades, predominantly retaining their medieval fachwerk structure, embraced contemporary architectural trends. Along this vibrant shopping street, houses adorned with sculptural embellishments and architectural elements characteristic of the late sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries lined the thoroughfare. It was during these periods that the street acquired its unique face. The presented three-dimensional models demonstrate the diversity and variability of Königsberg’s centuries-old street.

This study is an attempt at a historiographical analysis of research works into the history of peasant horse breeding in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th — early 20th century. The work delineates historiographical periods, identifies the focal points covered in the literature and outlines avenues for future exploration. Monographs, dissertations and research articles reporting findings on peasant horse breeding served as sources of the study. Pre-Soviet, Soviet and modern historiographical periods are distinguished. Although the first works on the issue appeared in the pre-Soviet period, most were opinion pieces. In the Soviet period, the Marxist-Leninist ideology prompted historians to delve into the peasant economy. Yet, horse breeding by peasant farms was considered only in passing in works whose geographical scope extended to the entire territory of European Russia or groups of several regions. Modern historiography of the issue features studies emphasising the regional features of peasant horse breeding in provinces of the Russian Empire in the s period. However, the state of the peasant horse breeding economy in many provinces of Russia has received little scholarly attention in the country, alongside comparative analysis of peasant horse breeding across regions or exploration of how central departments, zemstvos and public organisations contributed to the modernisation of the industry.

In recent years, social and economic development has been taking place in Russian regions amidst efforts to counter the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing geopolitical confrontation between Russia and the West. This article aims to analyse the general and specific features in the development of the Kaliningrad semi-exclave between 2017 and 2022 while considering the territory’s spatial heterogeneity. By employing a multi-scale approach and utilising data from Rosstat and Kaliningradstat, an evaluation is carried out of the economic and social dynamics of the region’s municipalities and the region as a whole, compared to the country’s similar territories. It is concluded that the region’s high economic openness and reliance on imports and transit in various industries had a distinctly negative effect on its development. In 2020, the major aggravating factor was the substantial proportion of ‘simple’ services in the structure of the economy, while in 2022, the ban on the imports of certain types of products into developed countries, particularly those of the metal industry, exacerbated the situation. Local gradients were predominately accounted for by the level of cross-border interactions and the specialisation of municipal economies. In different years, districts at risk included coastal ones catering for the demand from tourists and migrants and those specialising in the metal industry, meat and fish processing and furniture production. In general, the region’s social dynamics show a less dramatic decline than the economic dynamics, primarily due to the distribution of social payments to the population. While intended to support the population in the most economically affected areas, these measures did not yield a positive impact on the income convergence among the region’s municipalities.

The European migration crisis has brought scholarly attention to national migration policies, including those of the Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia — all of which border Russia. This study aims to identify the key features of these policies, considering both Russian interests and those of the EU. To this end, this article undertakes, for the first time, a comparative analysis of the Baltic States’ relevant strategic documents for the 2020s: Lithuania’s Strategy for Demography, Migration and Integration 2018—2030, Latvia’s Guidelines for the Development of a Cohesive and Civically Active Society 2021—2027 and Estonia’s Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2021—2030. It is concluded that the migration policy of these states does not align with the interests of either the EU, whose focus is on mitigating the consequences of the migration crisis, primarily as regards refugees from Africa and the Middle East, or Russia, whose principal concern is the Baltics’ Russophone population.

The army has traditionally played a prominent role in Sudan’s socioeconomic and political life. The events of April 2023 once again confirmed the country’s failure to establish stable political institutions since gaining independence. This study aims to examine the historical prerequisites and conditions that led Sudan into civil war and a humanitarian crisis, ultimately resulting in the degradation and collapse of the state. The article concludes that the armed forces are no longer the only successfully functioning institution in the country, as previously believed. As demonstrated in the research, the army has transformed from a guarantor of stability into a source of threats to national security. Furthermore, a ‘deep state’ has emerged in Sudan since independence in 1956. The military elite maintained complete control over the country for an extended period, acting solely in their interests, which inevitably impacted the socioeconomic situation in Sudan. The current events in the country are not an ethno-confessional conflict but a power struggle between two military formations: the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.