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The article highlights an attempt to define the system of criminal offenses related to crossing the State border of Ukraine in an illegal manner and/or for a criminal purpose. It is proved that criminal offenses under Articles 332, 332-1, 332-2, 333, 334 of Section XIV of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine encroach not only on the inviolability of the state borders of Ukraine, but also on border security, which is a component of Ukraine's national security. The author establishes the difference between crossing the State border of Ukraine, transportation of goods across the State border of Ukraine and transportation of persons across the State border of Ukraine. Based on this comparison, it is determined that crossing the State border of Ukraine in an illegal manner and/or for a criminal purpose is characterized by the physical movement of a person across the State border of Ukraine without the purpose of moving a certain product or other object. In addition, unlike illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine, crossing this border in an illegal manner and/or for a criminal purpose is characterized by the direct physical movement of a person across the state border of Ukraine, which in itself is criminalized if carried out in an illegal manner and/or for a criminal purpose, while illegal transportation across the state border of Ukraine is characterized by such a property as indirectness, which is of paramount importance for criminal law enforcement of border security. The system of criminal offenses related to crossing the state border of Ukraine illegally and/or for criminal purposes should include terrorist financing in the form of providing, collecting or storing any assets directly or indirectly with the intent to use them or with the knowledge that they will be used in whole or in part for any purpose by an individual terrorist or terrorist group (organization) to cross the state border of Ukraine for terrorist purposes (Art. 258-5), crossing the state border of Ukraine for terrorist purposes (to carry out activities that are considered terrorist according to the law) (Art. 258-6), illegal crossing of the state border of Ukraine (Art. 332-2), violation of international flight rules (Art. 334) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Urgency of the research. Under the conditions of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation into Ukrainian territory, the religious factor has gained particular significance and has become one of the key risk-generating elements affecting the country’s domestic political situation. The presence of religious organizations suspected of having ties with the aggressor state raises additional concerns regarding national security. Target setting. There is an urgent need to prevent the possible use of religion as an instrument to undermine national security, in particular through its influence on the socio-political situation in the context of military conflict. Analysis of recent research and publications. The source base of this study is formed by the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations’ Activities.” The research objective. Drawing on the legislative framework in the context of legal mechanisms for protecting national security, this study examines the religious factor of influence, as well as the prevention of the “Russian World” ideology, certain manipulations, and propaganda. The statement of basic material. The article analyzes the significance of the religious factor in the context of Ukraine's national security during the military aggression by the Russian Federation. Main attention is given to the newly adopted Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations,” which introduces a set of measures to limit the influence of foreign religious structures, such as the Russian Orthodox Church, that could be used to destabilize the internal situation in the country. The methods applied include critical analysis of legislative acts, a systematic approach to studying the interconnections between religious organizations and national security, and content analysis aimed at assessing the propagandistic impact of the “Russian world” ideology. The law serves as an important tool for protecting Ukraine's national interests by allowing the prohibition of religious organizations with ties to the aggressor state and ensuring information security through the prohibition of neocolonial ideology. The implementation of this law will contribute to strengthening Ukraine's spiritual independence, preserving societal stability and unity, and counteracting external influence through religious structures, which is particularly crucial in the context of ongoing aggression. Conclusions. The Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations’ Activities” is an important step toward strengthening national security amid the Russian Federation’s military aggression. It sets out a range of measures aimed at limiting the influence of foreign religious structures, such as the Russian Orthodox Church, which could be employed as instruments to destabilize the internal situation in Ukraine. These measures include banning the activities of affiliated religious organizations, establishing mechanisms to verify their connections with the aggressor state, and providing for the possibility of applying judicial sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article examines the legal and institutional mechanisms for integrating gender equality into the national security and defence sector of Ukraine. The analysis of the legal framework governing gender policy, in particular in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is carried out. Particular attention is paid to the role of international standards, such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Istanbul Convention, in ensuring equal access of women and men to participation in defence processes. Based on theoretical analysis and empirical data, the article examines the impact of gender balance on the effectiveness of the national security sector, in particular its managerial, operational and strategic components, in the context of modern military challenges. It is found that the integration of gender equality contributes to the efficiency of the defence sector, but requires improvement of legal regulation and changes in institutional approaches. The results of the study indicate the need to revise legislative acts and introduce gender-sensitive approaches in the planning and execution of military operations. The article provides recommendations for strengthening the legal framework for gender equality in the security and defence sector of Ukraine. It is concluded that gender equality in the military does not mean mandatory establishment of equal obligations for both sexes. It is important to take into account the specifics and capabilities of each gender, ensuring equal access to military service on a voluntary basis, which is a more effective and fair approach. This allows to take into account the individual characteristics of women and men, thus ensuring the harmonious functioning of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the context of modern challenges and needs of society. more...

The article emphasises that at the level of the basic National Security Strategy of Ukraine, one of the key directions of ensuring the national security of Ukraine is the development of human capital, including through the prism of modernisation of education. At the same time, the very essence of human capital is not fully disclosed at the level of other programme documents and legislative acts of Ukraine, which causes difficulties in the practical implementation of this direction and the identification of the central executive body responsible for such activities. In view of this, the category of human potential should not be declarative, but actually embodied in the national legislation, with priorities for its development and criteria for its assessment, including in the educational sphere. According to the article, a person in the modern world is faced with a large amount of diverse information, which in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war is often distorted by enemy propaganda, information operations and cyber attacks. In such circumstances, the importance of the so-called information hygiene increases, which is formed mainly through educational tools, such as trainings, educational courses, programmes, etc. In the course of implementing the educational direction of ensuring national security, the unacceptability of the narratives proposed by enemy propaganda can be guaranteed in the minds of the population by developing human cognitive abilities, as well as forming a comprehensive understanding of historical, state-building processes, political and socio-economic features, the distortion of which is the basis of enemy information and psychological operations. In addition, the emphasis is placed on the fact that the educational component of ensuring the national security of Ukraine is also to promote maximum individualisation of the education process, formation of an individual educational trajectory of an applicant for education, including through artificial intelligence technologies. more...

The article studies the legal basis for providing civil protection and protection of critical infrastructure in Ukraine under martial law. In particular, the authors draw attention to the fact that, as of today, the issue of providing civil protection and protection of critical infrastructure in Ukraine is crucial due to the Russian Federation's encroachment on its territorial integrity and inviolability, starting in 2014. This problem has gained particular urgency since the open military full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, which took place on February 24, 2022. Summarizing the conclusions of the conducted scientific research, based on the analysis of the levels of formation and implementation of the state policy of Ukraine in the field of civil protection and protection of critical infrastructure, in the system of its subject composition, the author considers it appropriate to single out: subjects of the policy of civil defense and protection of critical infrastructure at the national level; issues of the policy of civil security and safety of critical infrastructure at the industry (sectoral) level; civil protection and essential infrastructure protection policy subjects at the local level; issues of the policy of civil security and safety of critical infrastructure at the object level (at the enterprise, institution, organization). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The subject of the study is the state and prospects of development of legal and economic foundations of regulation of legal relations in the sphere of national security of Ukraine. Methodology. In the process of research were used general scientific and special legal methods. Dialectical method made it possible to compare the level of legal protection of private and public interests as a type of national interests in comparison with the objects of national security. By means of analysis were determined quantitative and qualitative parameters of measures implemented within the framework of ensuring national security of Ukraine in the sphere of protected national interests of legal and economic nature. Synthesis provided the formation of common features that mediate the existence of the main categories in the sphere of national security, taking into account the time period in which the relevant measures are implemented. Comparative-legal method allowed us to identify common and distinctive features in the implementation of measures of legal and economic nature to ensure national security at different times and in the future. The purpose of the article is to establish the state and determine the prospects of development of legal and economic provision of regulation of social relations in the sphere of national security, taking into account geopolitical and internal challenges of the corresponding period of the existence of Ukrainian statehood. The results of the study showed that the state of legal and economic security of national security of Ukraine needs to be adjusted and improved taking into account the needs of the time in the geopolitical space, which is reflected in the organizational, legal and legislative work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the research of scientists. Conclusion. The legal and economic foundations of Ukraine's national security developed under the influence of a number of factors, among which the determining ones are: international standards; creation of a legal regulation mechanism harmonizing private and public interests as part of national interests; prompt response to external and internal challenges, creation of the most effective conditions for the existence of civil society, including economic, involvement of institutions of democratic civil control in this activity. It is established that the formation of legal and economic security of national security of Ukraine took place in three stages: the initial period, when the general rules of normalization of legal relations in this area were laid down; the period of unification and systematization of normative regulations in this sphere, taking into account the proportionality of public and private national interests included in the content of national security, with the priority of the latter, in particular in the field of economic security; the period of adaptation of the regulatory framework in the field of national security to the geopolitical challenges that Ukraine faced after the Revolution of Dignity. The defining features of these stages are characterized. It is established that the legal regulation and economic provision of national security of Ukraine today is determined by the following features: in the first place among the national interests are the state sovereignty, territorial integrity, democratic constitutional order, which are associated with a real threat to these interests due to the existing aggression; a number of strategic documents in the relevant areas of national security, the content of which contains a qualification of threats, directions of state policy and appropriate response measures, in particular to ensure economic security, were categorically defined; the legal status of subjects of national security has been normalized and significantly expanded; the content of the powers and functions of these subjects is reduced, and the content of the activities of citizens and public organizations is ignored; for the first time elements of democratic civil control in the sphere of national security are introduced into the legal field. Analyzed modern scientific developments on the national security of Ukraine, which allowed to highlight promising directions of development of measures of legal and economic nature aimed at ensuring national security, including the prevention of threats in the sphere of influence of geopolitical vectors of the modern world system on the formation of Ukrainian statehood, preventing the impact of negative factors of internal and external origin, in particular: separatism; cybercrime; corruption; economic and financial threats; energy crisis; COVID-19 pandemics, etc. In addition, a characteristic feature of such measures should be their ex-ordinary effectiveness, which is mediated by the involvement of all branches of government and institutions of civil society through deep coordination of such activities, the use of international experience, cooperation with international organizations of a military-economic type, the dissemination of the jurisprudence of international courts, using the example of the European Court of Human Rights, etc. more...

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The purpose of this paper is to identify the problems and ways of providing Ukraine financial security in a hybrid war. The subject of the study is the system of financial security of Ukraine. Research methods. The paper uses a set of scientific methods, including systematic, structural, comparative, factorial, and others which allowed to realize the conceptual unity of the research. Research results. The article deals with systemic problems and ways of ensuring the financial security of Ukraine in the conditions of hybrid warfare, clarifies the concept of "financial security", an analysis of the peculiarities of the factors of providing and assessing the financial security of Ukraine at the present stage of development of the state. It has been determined that financial security is one of the key elements of economic security, the state of finance in the state depends on the state of the economy of the country, and simultaneously, the economic well-being of the country depends to a large extent on the level of ensuring the financial security of each individual citizen, as well as of the society state in the whole. Conclusions. Financial security is the protection of financial interests of business entities at all levels of financial relations, financial coverage of households, enterprises, organizations and institutions, regions, industries, sectors of the economy, government, sufficient to meet their needs and to fulfill obligations. In public administration practice there are often problems in assessing and analyzing individual components of national security or making decisions on one of the areas of ensuring financial security, when data on changes in other components of security are not available. Ensuring the financial security of the country requires the cessation of capital flight practice being one of the most powerful internal threats to the financial security of the country as a whole. The rise of external public debt and the excessive openness of the economy are the factors contributing to financial security risks. more...

The article defines and analyses the peculiarities of the functioning of the Ombudsman Institute in the mechanism for ensuring national security of Ukraine. The Law “On National Security of Ukraine” was considered, in which the protection of human rights and a citizen as a goal of state policy in the spheres of national security and defence is enshrined. It emphasizes that the national security of Ukraine represents first of all the protection of state sovereignty, territorial integrity and other national interests from any potential threats. Greater focus was placed on that one of the means of exercising control over the activity of the Security Service of Ukraine and over its observance of the legislation, on the part of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. It was proved that the ombudsman takes an active part in the social and political life, the protection of the rights of the citizens of Ukraine, who serve in the military formations and law enforcement agencies of the security and defence sector, war or military service veterans, pensioners from among the persons dismissed from the military service, internal affairs bodies (the National Policy), as well as the members of their families. The creation of the Institute of the Commissioner for control over the activities of the Security Service of Ukraine was analysed, its powers and main tasks were outlined. Clear legal norms of effective participation of the Office of the Commissioner in the control over the activities of security organs were defined. The need to learn from the experiences of the military ombudsman of other democratic countries in order to establish a proper system of national security of Ukraine is updated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The paper looks into the processes and conditions which led to the change of the geopolitical vector of Ukraine in the second decade of the 21st century.Applicable legal documents on national security and defense, adopted by the Ukrainian authorities in 2015-2016, are analyzed, namely the National Security Strategy, the Military Doctrine, the Strategic Defense Bulletin and the White Book of Ukraine-2015. It is pointed out that, as opposed to the previous documents, the above instruments identify the Russian military-political aggression among the current justifiable threats to and dangers for national security of Ukraine and suggest some steps to develop a new national security system with the maximal level of compatibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with NATO countries through introducing standards of the North Atlantic Alliance and achievement of the long-termobjective of joining the Common European security system. The author indicates some strategic miscalculations due to the fact that Ukraine is no part of the European anti-ballistic missile systemaswell as the regional security structure. It is emphasized that Russia strives to turn Ukraine into the field of its interests. There is a list of challenges, threats and dangers given, which substantively influence the national security situation of our country, some recommendations on their elimination provided. According to the author, it is necessary to: - continue concluding bilateral and multilateral military-political as well as security agreements with the neighboring countries, the world leading states, especially in the field of restoration of maritime forces, joining the global anti-ballistic missile and air defense systems. Recent world history shows that regional systems were sufficiently effective military-political blocs. Using international experience, Ukraine may propose developing a regional Balto-Black Sea security systemin partnership with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the USA and Great Britain; - actively pursue the political and diplomatic work aimed at strengthening anti-Russian, pro-European and global counteraction to the RF policy of aggression; - boost the development (purchase) of new precision weapons (short-range missiles up to 500 km and intermediate-range missiles up to 5000 km). The above breaks no current international agreements. The country still has a scientific and technical potential required for the purpose. The efficiency of such weapons is rather high and will stop any aggressor as well as serve a deterrence function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...