Ensuring the safety of business activities in the context of an acute sanctions policy on the part of foreign states (administrative and legal aspect)

Lyannoi Gleb Gennad'evich ORCID: 0009-0006-2098-2170 PhD in Law Associate Professor, Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Baikal State University" 11 Lenin Street, Irkutsk, Irkutsk region, 664009, Russia alwolfy@mail.ru

A twenty-year study of business processes taking place in various Russian commercial companies, an analysis of the situation in the country and in the world, as well as recent events taking place on the planet, led to the realization of the need to take a fresh look at the issue of ensuring the safety of entrepreneurial activity, in general, and during the period of acute sanctions policy by foreign states, in particular.

By the security of business activity, we mean the following:

- the state of the business, formed from a set of constantly performed joint actions of employees of the company, its managers or owners, different in content and direction;

- organization and orderly functioning of existing business processes, their protection;

- the formation of a planned, progressive movement, goal-oriented development carried out within the framework of a short-term, medium-term and long-term business development strategy.

These actions are aimed at meeting the needs of society in order to systematically generate business profits regardless of internal and external challenges (threats).

By ensuring the safety of business activities in a broad sense, we mean the following:

- the activity of the state in defending the interests of business outside the state on the world stage;

- creating conditions within the country that are aimed at creating stable socio-business, socio-economic, and demographic stability;

- defining the main directions of the state's development in order to create favorable conditions for the establishment and development of business.

Ensuring the safety of business activities in a narrow sense is a systematic activity of a company aimed at identifying, preventing, and suppressing threats from company personnel, competitors, and criminal elements in order to ensure the stable functioning of the company. In other words, this is a joint activity of the company's security service and the legal department.

In the above definitions, the main condition for entrepreneurial activity is stability.

Of course, it is impossible to make a business plan and set up business processes without having an idea of the mechanisms that ensure the security of business processes. But besides the mechanisms that ensure security, financial stability within the country and the mechanism of law enforcement are equally important.

According to I.G. Kormilitsina, whose point of view we share, financial stability is understood as a state of the financial system in which it effectively performs its key functions and is able to avoid internal and external shocks and at the same time not harm the real sector of the economy [12.P.47].

The formed stability can be destroyed in various ways, but more extensive in its destructive power and consequences for business is the sanctions policy on the part of foreign states aimed at causing damage to the state.

The first scientific works devoted to the issue of sanctions were published already in the 1930s. At the same time, E. Clark defined the term economic sanctions: ".. punishment entailing economic loss or damage to the nation that violated the treaty" (Williams, 1933) [5.P.153].

Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) states that the Security Council is authorized to decide which measures not related to the use of armed forces should be applied to implement its decisions, and it, the Security Council, may require Members of the Organization to apply these measures (sanctions). [Electronic resource. URL Chapter VII: Actions regarding threats to peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression (articles 39-51) | United Nations (un.org ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) defines the concept of "economic sanctions" as follows: "These measures may include a complete or partial interruption of economic relations, rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio or other means of communication, as well as the severance of diplomatic relations" [7.P.45].

International economic sanctions are collective coercive measures imposed by the UN Security Council on the basis of Chapter VII of the UN Charter in order to ensure the suppression of international offenses and the restoration of law and order by influencing the economy of the offender's facility // [Electronic resource. URL Official Internet Portal of Legal information Security Council Sanctions | UN Security Council (un.org ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

In fairness, it should be noted that the UN International Law Commission and international judicial practice avoid incorrect use of the term "sanctions" in relation to unilateral measures of states, preferring to operate with the term "countermeasures" [6.pp.159-171].

Since 1966, the Security Council has imposed 31 sanctions on the following States: Southern Rhodesia, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia (2), Haiti (2), Angola, Liberia (3), Eritrea/Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Iran, Somalia/Eritrea, ISIS (DAESH) and Al-Qaeda, Iraq (2), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Libya (2), Taliban, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, Yemen, South Sudan and Mali// [Electronic resource. URL Security Council sanctions | Subsidiary bodies of the Security Council (unesco.org ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

The first documented economic sanctions were applied by the Athenian Maritime Union (Dalos Symmachia) to the city of Megara (part of the Peloponnesian Union) in 432 BC. The purpose of the sanctions was to stop the practice of accepting runaway African slaves in this city and prevent the plowing of sacred border territories. These documents are known as the "Megarian psephism" [5.P.6].

In the future, the ways of economic impact on countries not only did not stop, but, on the contrary, began to change and improve. So, in the twentieth century, out of 175 cases of sanctions, 109 were initiated by the United States, 16 by England, 14 by the EU, 13 by the USSR and Russia, and 20 by the UN. In other words, sanctions are an instrument of powerful, advanced and developed states or their associations [8. p. 17].

To clarify: from the point of view of law, sanctions can be legitimate and illegitimate. Sanctions approved by the Security Council are legitimate, therefore, sanctions not approved by the Security Council are illegitimate.

By February 2022, 12,858 sanctions were imposed illegitimately by "foreign partners". After 02/22/2022, in just six months, the number of sanctions against many states increased by 40%, and against Russia by more than 300%.

The number of cases of sanctions for the period 2022. // [Electronic resource. URL The most sanctioned countries in the world 2022 | Statista (turbopages.org ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

In Article 3 of Federal Law No. 281-FZ of December 30, 2006 "On Special Economic measures and Coercive measures" //[Federal Law No. 281-FZ of December 30, 2006 "On Special Economic Measures and Coercive measures" // "Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation" 01.01.2007. N 1 (1 part) 44.] there is no concept of "sanctions", but there is a concept of "special economic measures" that "are applied in cases of a set of circumstances requiring an urgent response to an internationally wrongful act or an unfriendly action by a foreign state or its organs and officials that pose a threat to the interests and security of the Russian Federation and (or) violate the rights and freedoms of its citizens, as well as in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions."

Thus, it can be argued that there is no such thing as a "sanction" at the legislative level. It should be recognized that the concept of "sanction" belongs to a category of terms that is studied by various branches of law. This is understandable, since the peculiarity of the term in question is its versatility and versatility.

The analysis of various dictionaries allowed us to collect synonyms of the word sanction - approval, approval, consent, permission, permission, permission, punishment, measure of responsibility, fine, penalty, prohibition // [Electronic resource. URL of the Internet portal (academic.ru ) | What is a sanction? Accessed 02/15/2024].

The versatility of the concept has predetermined the discussions that have developed in the scientific community in order to give it an accurate definition. The following scientists contributed to the study of this issue: Alekseev S.S., Babaev V.K., Bazylev B.T., Baitin M.I., Baranov V.M., Vasilyeva O.N., Vengerov A.B., Vlasenko N.A., Granat N.L., Gushchina N.A., Yelchaninov N.B., Zhelobov M.V., Ivanov I.G., Lazarev V.V., Leist O.E., Lipinsky D.A., Malko A.V., Mamut L.S., Matuzov N.I., Nyrkov V.V., Saak A.E., Strogovich M.S. and many others.

Since the concept of sanction is a generic theoretical concept, and the term "international sanctions" is specific in relation to generic, let's focus on the study of the latter.

The following scientists studied the issue of international sanctions: Boyko A.A.^[2], Kolchina E.A. ^[11],Lukashuk I.I. ^[15], Marchenko E.S., Matyshina N.P. ^[17], Timofeev I. N. ^[20], Tkachenko E. D. ^[21], Trutov I.L. ^[22], Shitova T.V., Levko A.I., Chebakova V.I. ^[24] and many other authors.

All the numerous definitions of the word "sanction" can be arranged in 4 groups.

The first group of scientists believes that international economic sanctions (MEAS) represent "... coercive measures taken by international organizations on the basis of Chapter VII of the UN Charter" [Lukashuk I.I. S.432]. This definition was proposed by I.I. Lukashuk, a member of the UN International Law Commission.

The second group of scientists believes that MEAS are punishments for international offenses committed by States. This definition is proposed by: Boyko A.A. ^[2], Tkachenko E.D.^[21], Vylegzhanin A. N. [International law in 2 parts Part 2 4th ed., trans. and add. Moscow: Yurait Publishing House, 2021. — 343 p. Textbook for universities (Ed. Vylegzhanin A. N.)] and others.

The third group of authors Eremin A.E.^[8], Kolchina E.A. ^[11], Matyshina N.P.^[17], Yudina M.V. consider MEAS as restrictive economic measures that are applied by a country (or group of countries) to another country (or group of countries) in order to force the governments of the countries – The objects of sanctions are to change their policy.

The fourth group of researchers (Vasilyeva O.N., Zhelobov M.V.) ^[3] consider sanctions as a means of encouraging unfair competition, which is subject to judicial challenge.

In our opinion, these concepts are not devoid of scientific value, but they have points with which the author of this article does not agree.

For example, the definition of the MEA, which follows from a legitimate understanding of the procedure for applying sanctions, does not allow this definition to be used to assess the processes of applying the MEA against the Russian Federation at the present time. Because we know that the application of the MEA was carried out bypassing the legitimate procedure for imposing sanctions.

A group of definitions that reveal the concept of "sanction" as a special form of international legal responsibility also raises objections. Since not all countries of the world community recognize the priority of international law over national legislation. It should be noted that the international legal system lacks an independent "judicial" body authorized to establish the guilt or innocence of a country and take any measures of responsibility against it to the extent that the classical understanding of punishment presupposes.

The definitions assigned by us to the third and fourth groups do not consider goals other than political and competitive, although other goals are also present when sanctions are imposed.

We believe that the concepts we have given do not fully reflect the essence of the concept of "international sanctions". We propose that "international economic sanctions" be understood as an instrument of non-military pressure on a country (nation), which consists in using economic measures to inflict losses on the economy of a sub-sanctioned country sufficient to slow down (stop) its economic growth or fall into recession, to worsen the standard of living of the country's population; complication of the integration processes of the sub-sanctioned state into the world business processes, subordination of the will of the state leadership to the will of the state that imposed sanctions in order to commit political actions in the interests of the latter or overthrow the government in a sub-sanctioned state or the liquidation of the state or the deprivation of the country's sovereignty.

The correctness of our opinion is confirmed by statements made by Western politicians, in which they propose:

- to ensure security in the world, it is necessary to reduce the population of Russia to 50 million people [Electronic resource. URL Guerre en Ukraine : Lech Walesa sugg?re de «ramener» la Russie ? «moins de 50 millions d'habitants» (lefigaro.fr). Date of application 02/15/2024];

- divide Russia into several small states [Electronic resource. URL The US administration is considering options for dividing Russia | soldat.pro – Military specialists. We unite the best! Accessed 02/15/2024].

Federal Law No. 101-FZ dated 07/15/1995 "On International Treaties of the Russian Federation" [Federal Law No. 101-FZ dated 07/15/1995 "On International Treaties of the Russian Federation" // "Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation". 07/17/1995. N 29. Art. 2757.] defines the concept of "international economic sanctions". But such a definition is necessary for the legal community, since it will allow to separate MEAS imposed legally, within the framework of current international legislation, from economic sanctions imposed illegally, that is, in violation of the existing procedure established by international law.

Recall that the UN General Assembly strongly expresses its negative attitude towards unilateral measures (MEAS) and opposes any attempts to introduce them [Gracheva A.M. S.159-171].

We agree with the opinion of I.I. Lukashuk, who, under the concept of "section" (MEA), considers a number of coercive measures taken by international organizations on the basis of Chapter VII of the UN Charter" [15. C. 432].

The concepts of "international economic sanctions" and "acute sanctions policy" should be distinguished. But the current legislation does not define these concepts. In our opinion, the concept of "acute sanctions policy" is formed from economic and political sanctions.

Political sanctions are an instrument of non–military pressure on a country (nation), which consists in using moral pressure on a sanctioned country at the global level, in order to form an unfavorable image of the country, government officials and citizens, to make it difficult for citizens of the country under pressure to exercise their civil rights and freedoms; in order to subordinate the will of the leadership of the State under political pressure, the will of the State that imposed sanctions to commit political actions in the interests of the latter or to overthrow the ruling leadership in the sanctioned State.

The author of the article refers to political sanctions aimed at various spheres:

- diplomatic (cancellation of diplomatic visas or recall of employees of diplomatic missions);

- sports (prohibition of participation in sports events, cancellation of sports events or termination of cooperation);

- cultural (termination of scientific, technical and cultural cooperation, cancellation of events);

- personalized (a ban on entry into the country or limited access for individual citizens).

As we can see, the application of political sanctions is aimed at achieving the same goals as in the application of economic sanctions, only other spheres of government activity are involved.

In our opinion, the sanctions policy is the use of international political and international economic sanctions as instruments of pressure. 

A group of authors, which includes Knobel A.Yu., Proka K.A., Baghdasaryan K.M., argue that the purpose of sanctions against Russia is not only to change the country's political course, but also to realize the economic interests of the countries that initiated the sanctions [9. P.160]. Demonstrating its position by the country that initiated the imposition of sanctions is also part of the sanctions policy.

The development of doctrinal definitions in the field under consideration, in our opinion, will be able to eliminate the legal problems faced by law enforcement officers and scientists in their interpretation.

External economic factors caused by the acute sanctions policy of unfriendly states affect the economic situation inside the country by exerting pressure on business processes taking place in the country. Therefore, the task of the state is to develop tactical techniques aimed at countering existing challenges, as well as to develop a state strategy to counter external challenges. To build strategic plans, it is possible to use existing administrative and legal mechanisms of various regulations.

Since one of the strategic goals defined in paragraph 66 of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 07/02/2021 N 400 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation" [Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 07/02/2021 N 400 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation"// "Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation". 07/05/2021. N 27 (Part II). art. 5351] is: "....creating conditions for the economic growth of the Russian Federation, the pace of which will be higher than the world." For this purpose, it is necessary to create conditions in the country for the development of the following factors:

– formation of the psychology of consumption. Because desires are insatiable and boundless.

– the availability of economic resources, including funds that are used for the production of material goods and which, as a rule, are produced in limited quantities [Electronic resource. Economic development conditions (utmagazine.ru ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

The third factor is not directly related to economic factors, but is no less important for economic growth, it is the development of science in the country, which becomes a direct productive force, since science is an idea supported by verification technology.

For the successful implementation of the first factor in the West, and then in our country, people's consciousness was reformatted and the so-called "psychology of consumption" was introduced. The psychology of consumption is expressed in the power of a market society over personality and human values [Deineka O.S. Economic psychology: Textbook. – St. Petersburg, 2000. – p. 92.].

Fashionable glossy magazines made according to the Western type encourage young people to live for themselves, take everything from life, spend time having fun and carefree. The measure of personal success in such magazines is free relationships and a bunch of different fashionable "trinkets", and for adult uncles and aunties, the same "trinkets" appear in the form of absolutely useless artificially created services and options for their expensive cars, phones, etc. Almost everything is put up for sale, not only materialized goods, but also time, abilities, female beauty [Electronic resource. URL Consumer Society as the basis for creating an immature personality (b17.ru ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

The introduction of consumer psychology has allowed the United States to build the strongest economy in the world. But since 2014, China has intercepted the "palm tree" [Electronic resource. URL The Chinese economy has officially become the largest in the world — RBC (rbc.ru ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

The Brkings Institute (USA) refers to the number of consumers of people who have the opportunity to spend from 11 to 110 US dollars per day for each family member [Electronic resource. URL Which will be the top 30 consumer markets of this decade? 5 Asian markets below the radar | Brookings. Accessed 02/15/2024].

In the Russian Federation, although there has been some reformatting of society towards consumption, the main class of people who have the opportunity to spend in the amounts calculated by the American institute has not yet been formed.

For the successful implementation of the first factor, it was necessary: 1) reformat society (prepare citizens to consume); 2) create a material base for the implementation of this goal (idea); 3) have a sufficient number of consumers in the country.

Currently, the total population of the United States is more than 340 million people [Electronic resource. URL Population of the United States of America (countrymeters.info ). Accessed 02/15/2024], the consumer market has more than 300 million people, and thanks to numerous free trade agreements, businesses have access to more than 400 million additional consumers of goods and services that are manufactured in the United States and can be sold to other countries [Electronic resource. URL Getting Started in the U.S. - U.S. Embassy in Uganda (usembassy.gov). Accessed 02/15/2024]. Thus, conditions have been created in the country for the development of consumption and entrepreneurial activity.

Based on the economic data of 2023, a table was created [Electronic resource. URL Industry of the world in 2023-2024: table, rating, industry leaders (visasam.ru ). Accessed 02/15/2024], which shows the country's rating, and also demonstrates the ratio of the country's population to the total industrial production in it:

[Population data are provided from an electronic resource. URL countrymeters.info. Accessed 02/15/2024].

The top three are China, the European Union, and the United States – countries with established consumption.

The Russian Federation ranks 7th in the world in terms of industrial production.

It should be noted that at the beginning of the XX century there was enough market for hundreds of thousands of people. Croatia or Galicia could isolate themselves not only from Austria-Hungary, but from the whole world [Electronic resource. URL Wasserman A.A. Does the market need a lot of people? (awas.ws). The date of appeal is 02/15/2024], and this would allow these entities to be called states and have their own economy.

Recently, discussions have become more frequent about how much population is needed in the country in order for the economy to develop sustainably.

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs A. A. Klimov believes that Russia needs at least 200 million people for sustainable development [Electronic resource. URL https://www.pnp.ru/politics/klimov-rossii-dlya-ustoychivogorazvitiyanuzhnominimum200mlnchelovek.html?ysclid=ls86zt3w1a264036578. Accessed 02/15/2024].

Leading economists say that Russia needs at least 300 million people [Electronic resource. URL Russia needs 300 million people. And there is only one way to achieve this figure - The country and the people - June 10 - 43612897875 - MirTesen Media Platform (mirtesen.ru ).Accessed 02/15/2024].

According to Wasserman A.A., with whom we agree, back in the late 1970s, the creation of a novelty in the West paid off if it was released to the market of at least 300 million people. And by the middle of the XXI century, according to some estimates, even China's domestic market will not be enough for technical development [Electronic resource. URL Wasserman A.A. Does the market need a lot of people? (awas.ws). Accessed 02/15/2024].

In the near future, the picture may be different due to the robotization of production and the introduction of artificial intelligence technology. However, in general, it should be agreed that for the effective introduction of technical innovations, their subsequent payback, a market of at least 1 billion consumers is needed.

According to P.L. Kapitsa, the population of our planet will stabilize at the level of 10-11 billion people by 2100 [Electronic resource. URL Extinction Issues: What will the World's population be like by the end of the century | Articles | News (iz.ru ). Accessed 02/15/2024].

[Data on the estimated population are provided from an electronic resource. URL How many Russians and Americans there will be by the end of the century: the forecast of the director of the Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences - Gazeta.Ru (gazeta.ru). Accessed 02/15/2024].

The existing forecasts paint a depressing picture. At a time when reality puts forward new conditions necessary to ensure the safety of entrepreneurial activity in the form of a sales market for more than 1 billion consumers, by 2100 the population of the Russian Federation will decrease to 120 million people.

It is safe to say that achieving the projected number of residents of our country will not be able to create conditions for the stable development of the economy as a whole and become an impetus for the development of small, small and medium-sized businesses. The raw material orientation of the economy makes it dependent on the external market, which is in no way regulated by our country. Consequently, one of the main tasks facing the country is a gradual increase in the domestic consumer class due to an improvement in the demographic situation in the country.

To solve this problem, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/07/2018 N 204 "On national goals and strategic objectives of the development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024" [Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/07/2018 N 204 "On national goals and strategic objectives of the development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024// "Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation".05/14/2018. N 20. Article 2817.] the national project "Demography" was developed and implemented [Electronic resource. URL National project "Demography" / Ministry of Education of Russia (edu.gov.ru ).Accessed 02/15/2024]. In this decree, the President of the Russian Federation set the task for the Government of the Russian Federation to achieve the following targets by 2024:

increase healthy life expectancy to 67 years;

increase the total fertility rate to 1.7;

to increase the proportion of citizens who lead a healthy lifestyle, as well as to raise to 55 percent the proportion of citizens who systematically engage in physical culture and sports.

However, all measures will in no way bring the country's population closer to the desired figure of 1 billion people, since such a goal is not worth it.

In our opinion, in order to successfully solve the problem of ensuring the safety of entrepreneurial activity, creating sustainable economic development of the country, ensuring the security of the state, it is necessary to develop a state program for the strategic development of Russia for 100, 200, 300 years. For convenience, the period of strategic development should be divided into stages and the financing of these stages should be considered. The results to which the same should come should be indicated. For example: By improving the socio-economic conditions for businesses and the population, increase the country's population to 300 million by 2100, and to 1 billion by 2200. We emphasize that the goal of the program is to create socio-economic conditions that would contribute to an increase in the population. The responsibility for the implementation of these indicators should be assigned to the country's leadership.

Currently, another burning topic has arisen: to combine the ideology of consumption while preserving human values.

Paragraph 23 of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 11/19/2022 N 809 "On approval of the Foundations of state policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values" [Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 11/19/2022 N 809 "On approval of the Foundations of state policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values"// "Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation". 11/14/2022. N 46. art. 7977] the following objectives are defined:

a) preservation and strengthening of traditional values, ensuring their transmission from generation to generation;

b) countering the spread of destructive ideology;

c) the formation of the image of the Russian state in the international arena as a guardian and defender of traditional universal spiritual and moral values.

The ideology of consumption, in our opinion, is precisely destructive, since the process of consumption and personal pleasure is placed above human values, i.e. consumption is the antipode of spirituality and morality.

Of course, as soon as measures are developed to balance these two aspirations (consumption and human values), they will immediately be introduced into the sphere of public administration using administrative and legal methods

So, the security of entrepreneurial activity largely depends on the security of the state, on its achievement of its strategic objectives. But the security of the state also depends, in a sense, on the security of entrepreneurial activity.

Consequently, it is possible to resist the acute sanctions policy on the part of unfriendly foreign states by forming a powerful economy inside the country, including with the help of long-term administrative and legal strategic planning programs.

Only a sovereign, economically strong, independent state is able to withstand any challenges from unfriendly foreign states.

Awareness of this relationship is especially acute in the light of the harsh sanctions policy unleashed against our country by foreign states.