Retrospective Analysis of the Formation of Criminal Liability for Genocide

In accordance with the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, one of the urgent tasks at the present stage is to ensure the protection of peace and security of mankind, especially through countering genocide. In particular, this task should be carried out in the context of the conduct of SVO (special military operation) on the territory of Ukraine, where the result of the practice of implementing the ideas of extreme Ukrainian nationalism, expressed in the actions of the military-political leadership of Ukraine to blockade and destroy civilians in Donbass, has become a de facto genocide of the population of this region. The essential characteristics of the consequences of these actions indicate a direct connection with the neo-Nazi regime, which integrates systemic elements of a misanthropic ideology, making it possible to classify the said as genocide. The emerging objective realities do not cancel but, on the contrary, urge that international and national legal experience in establishing and enforcing liability for genocide be taken into account with a view to detailing legal features. At the same time, the formation of criminal liability for this crime is a complex multi-stage process. The author, referring directly to the monuments of law, shows the evolution of international and national legislation in counteracting genocide, revealing the prototypes of the current prohibitions on genocidal acts in international and national legislation, as well as vectors of change in norms that have not been realized in modern law. Purpose: to propose amendments to the existing criminal law on genocide, which will make it possible to more clearly specify the features of the crime. In the course of the research, modern general scientific (dialectical, analysis, synthesis, historical-comparative, comparative-legal) and specific scientific (formal-legal) methods of cognition are used. In particular, the methods of analysis, synthesis, and historical-comparative analysis allow to identify the prerequisites and factors contributing to the criminalization of genocide. The comparative legal method contributes to the study of issues related to criminal liability for genocide in international and national legislation. The formal legal method allows to define the concept and content of the definition of “cultural genocide”. Results: based on a consistent study of the stages of the formation of criminal liability for genocide at the international and national levels, the article identifies the features of its definition, the factors that influenced the modern understanding of genocide, and suggests measures to eliminate the limitations that arose due to repeated changes in the essential content of the concept of “genocide”, which consist in excluding liability for cultural genocide.