Provocation in the context of the investigative and search event "sting operation": theoretical and methodological problems

Introduction: The issues of tactics and methods of conducting investigative and search actions are the most debatable in legal science. The criteria for the legality of employees ' actions, the scope of the law, and the boundaries that separate legal forms and methods from provocation largely depend on the approach of researchers to understanding the fundamental principles and categories of psychology, philosophy, and jurisprudence. The identification of criteria and legal grounds for the various stages of the "sting operation" allows reducing the risks of being accused of provocation, participants of this operative experiment. Materials and Methods: the normative basis of the study was formed by the criminal procedure and operational-search legislation of the Russian Federation, departmental normative legal acts of law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation. The methodological basis of the research is the universal dialectical method of scientific knowledge, as well as analysis, synthesis, deduction, and induction. We also used such private-scientific methods as system-structural-to study the basics of constructing operational-search characteristics of the concept of provocation. Results of the Study: allowed us to identify the theoretical and methodological problems of provocation during the investigative and search event "sting operation". Findings and Conclusions: the conclusion is formulated that when conducting operational search activities, provocation, as an illegal method, should be considered objectively, based on the content of a specific investigative and search action. The nature of the action committed by the participants of the investigative events, which can be assessed as a provocation, differs in the process of implementing a particular investigative and search actions.