The development of regulation of the family and marriage institutions in Russia in the context of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights

Introduction: the institution of marriage is the pillar of every society and state and forms their material, spiritual, psychological and even ideological basis. The state is inextricably linked with the family and marriage. Changing each of the elements of this interaction leads to the radical changes in the entire system, so the state must regulate these social institutions in a certain way. Modern Russia strives to achieve a reasonable balance of human rights and freedoms, develop a democratic society and work closely with the international community while preserving the established moral foundations and traditional values related to the institution of the family and marriage. The purpose of the publication is to determine the current state and prospective vectors of development of the state policy in relation to the institution of marriage. The research methodology is based on the use of the logical, dialectical techniques and methods of scientific knowledge, the comparative legal and legal-technical analysis of the texts of laws and other documents. Results: the paper analyzes the scientific literature, the Russian and foreign legislation, the international legal acts and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in order to determine the efficiency of the state policy in this area, establish the criteria for achieving a sufficient balance between the non-interference of the state in the gender issues and maintaining the institution of traditional marriage in Russia. The conducted research of the issue suggests that in general, the legislation of the Russian Federation concerning the family and marriage relations is quite stable, but in response to the challenges of modern times, it is undergoing a certain reform. Conclusions: the practice of implementing the European Convention on Human Rights requires that the Russian legislation be seriously reformed in terms of regulating the gender issues and marital and family relations. In recent years, the Russian Federation has repeatedly lost cases in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), without being able to defend the fairness of its position. According to the authors of the publication, the solution to this problem is possible by reviewing certain international obligations of Russia in the context of their interpretation of the ECHR, as well as forming a consolidated position in Russian society regarding the institution of traditional marriage and the gender relations. These changes should be reflected in both the domestic legislation and the legalized law enforcement practices. The authors consider the achieved level of tolerance of Russian law regarding the institutions of the family and marriage to be extremely sufficient for the preservation and sustainable development of Russian society.