Review: This article analyzes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a part of international legal standards on human rights, as well as the Russian law enforcement practice of this document. Based on the differences in legal technique of the references applied by the Russian courts (form, procedure, peculiarities of implementation, target of application of the references of the Universal Declaration), the authors determine the status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Russia and the role of courts that ensure implementation of international legal standards in application of international legal regulations incorporated into the Russian legal system. Logical analysis of court rulings on civil cases submitted by the federal courts of the Russian Federation with references to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights allows making a conclusion that the Russian legal system realizes the international legal standards in the area of human rights. The authors reveal the relevance of studies on implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in court practice of the Russian Federation necessary for the precise determination of the status of this international legal act within the Russian legal system. A conclusion is made that reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the decisions of Russian courts is a sustainable practice and established legal tradition within the Russian legal system.

Keywords: Russian legal system, legal position, protection of individual rights, law enforcement practice, international legal standards, United Nations, international law, declaration of human rights, legal technique, implementation of international legal norms

Review: The author examines the aspects of environmental component of legal regulation of the Caspian Sea, the largest landlocked body of water on Earth. The cooperation of littoral states with regards to its environmental protection is complicated by the fact that after the dissemination of USSR, instead of two countries – Iran and Soviet Union, there have formed five countries interested in hydrocarbon extraction from the bottom of Caspian Sea, which caused acute contradictions between them. In light of this reason, the validity of Tehran Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in encumbered. The signed in 2018 Convention on the Status of Caspian Sea, overall, follows the regulations of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982. The author notes that the planned adoption of the obligatory document on environmental protection and sustainable use of maritime biodiversity (as an addendum to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) can become a positive addition to the legal system existing in the Caspian Sea. The need is claimed for the expansion of further productive cooperation of the states, which interests in one or another way are affected by this problem.

Keywords: environmental law, UN, Caspian state, international treaty, environment, biodiversity, Caspian sea, ecological safety, maritime law, international law

Review: The object of this research is the problems occurring within the framework of introduction in the Russian Federation of the subsidiary bodies documents of the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth member-states. These include the absence of: explicit reference in regulation about the Council for Binding Arbitration of its commissions and expert groups; distinct hierarchy of subsidiary bodies of the Council; practice of compulsory publication of decisions of the subsidiary bodies. For the detailed analysis, the author selected commissions and expert groups of the Council as the most numerous bodies. The subject of this research is the regulations on the substantive and subsidiary bodies of the Council and case law. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that this work is the first in the Russian Federation and CIS regarding the problems of implementation in the Russian Federation of the documents of subsidiary bodies of the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth member-states. The author approves the practice of direct applicability of the documents of subsidiary bodies of the Council in the absence of explicit reference in acts of the Council or their official publication. The author gives recommendations on demarcation between legal positions of the commissions and expert groups of the Council. The research results can be applied in law enforcement practice, as well as by any rail administration as the initiative for changing regulations on the Council and its subsidiary bodies.

Keywords: implementation of acts, acts of international organizations, expert groups, working groups, executive bodies, commissions, subsidiary bodies, implementation of international law, Council for Rail Transport, CIS