Rights of small peoples living in the European north of Russia in the legislative acts of the Russian Federation

Introduction. The work is of relevance due to the ambiguity of the status of small peoples: legislation of many countries (including Russia), being aimed at supporting small ethnic groups, is difficult to implement in practice. The article intends to analyze the situation concerning small ethnic groups living in Russia, created by the system of legislative acts. Materials and Methods. The study employed the method of content analysis, which allowed for a qualitative analysis of documents and their subsequent valid interpretation and comparison. Results. It has been revealed that Russia has not ratified the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and has its own understanding of the term; therefore the state does not recognize the right of peoples to own lands and does not establish a dispute settlement procedure. In theory, Russia provides ethnic groups with a wide range of rights, for example, the right to use lands and the right to receive education in their mother tongue. However, implementation of these provisions is often limited or completely impossible due to insufficient resources or conflicts of laws. It has been identified that generally the legislation makes provision for strengthening the unity and integrity of the state as the main goal of the state national policy. Discussion and Conclusion. The legislation on small peoples is of a declarative nature, so there is a need for regulation of relations between the state, enterprises and the indigenous population. Since the legislation is quite flexible due to changes in society, further monitoring of the acts adopted by the state on small ethnic groups and of the mechanisms introduced is necessary and appears to be a matter for further research.