Planning and preparation of aggressive war as a crime: objective signs

The subject of this study is the objective signs of planning and preparing an aggressive war (part 1 of Article 353 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Defining the generic object of the crime under consideration, the author conducts an interdisciplinary study of the concepts of "peace" and "human security". The author emphasizes that the existing concepts of the immediate object in relation to this corpus delicti need to be supplemented. Thus, the main direct object of the crimes provided for in Part 1 of Article 353 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is public relations to ensure peace and peaceful coexistence of states and peoples. Separately, the author examines the planning and preparation of an aggressive war and clarifies their content. The article raises a controversial issue about the qualification of the actions of sabotage and reconnaissance groups: the author clarifies that there is a competition of actions within the framework of the article. In preparing this study, the author used formal legal, historical, comparative methods, as well as methods of induction, deduction and analysis. The author's special contribution to the present study is the illustration of his conclusions. Thus, the author actively refers to historical examples, in particular, to the facts about the Great Patriotic War, and also analyzes modern realities. An analysis of a number of objective signs of the elements of crimes fixed in Part 1 of Article 353 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation led to the conclusion that the content of the acts provided for by the norm is not established in normative acts, and have only doctrinal justifications. Planning and preparation for aggressive war is essentially a stage of preparation for the commission of a crime and includes the commission of such actions as the development of plans, tactical materials and meetings. Preparation for an act of aggression is an action to implement the developed plans. The author also proposed a new definition of "peace", reflecting the essence of this concept for the purposes of applying the norms of Chapter 34 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.