Current Issues Related to the Implementation of Citizens' Right to Petition During the Special Military Operation

This article examines the role, significance, and operational features of the mechanism through which citizens exercise their right to petition government bodies and local authorities during the Russian Federation's special military operation. Special attention is given to this mechanism within the context of the operation, reflecting Russia’s broader objective of building a participatory model of the rule of law – an endeavor that has acquired particular urgency and importance in the current environment. The study aims to substantiate proposals for enhancing the mechanism that enables citizens to exercise their constitutional right to address public authorities. An analysis of normative legal acts, law enforcement practices, and specific studies on the topic reveal serious deficiencies and accumulated problems in the operation of this mechanism, particularly highlighted by the ongoing military operation. These unresolved issues include the absence of a legally defined procedure for the timely consideration of petitions; inconsistencies in the forms, methods, and procedures for submitting and processing electronic petitions due to a lack of unified standards and adequate legal regulation; the legislature’s failure to implement legal provisions for collective petitions within the existing framework; and the restricted nature of law enforcement agencies’ activities in Russia, which has resulted in numerous violations of citizens’ rights to petition these agencies. To address these challenges, specific proposals and recommendations are formulated for the federal legislature, aimed at rectifying existing gaps and contradictions in the regulatory framework and improving the effectiveness of the petition mechanism. The article places particular emphasis on the urgent issue of submitting or posting collective public petitions, especially in light of recent amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, which establish punitive sanctions for public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The Authors employ contemporary methods of legal analysis, developed and validated within the field of legal science, to conduct a comprehensive examination of the topic and to elucidate its interrelation with other legal phenomena and categories. Additionally, the study utilizes a range of specialized methodologies, including formal-logical, historical, analytical-synthetic, abstraction, and modeling techniques, among others, to thoroughly investigate the issues at hand.