Head of the Investigative Committee at the Youth Legal Forum: "Without core values, neither society, nor the state, nor man can exist"

The plenary session was attended by: Konstantin Chuychenko, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation; Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation; Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities at St Petersburg University; Sergei Belov, Dean of the Faculty of Law at St Petersburg University; Olga Aleksandrova, Rector of the All-Russian State University of Justice; and Vladislav Arkhipov, Head of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Director of the Centre for Research on Information Security and Digital Transformation at St Petersburg University.

The plenary session speakers referred to the current changes in politics, economy and the world order as "tectonic shifts". These processes have raised the question of core spiritual values as the foundations of Russia’s state policy. The answer to this question was the Presidential Executive Order "On Approving the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values", published in November 2022. According to the participants in the plenary session, the document not just addresses the fundamental principles of the state policy, but importantly, it aims at strengthening national security.

Konstantin Chuychenko, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, said that this assignment will be entrusted to the Ministry of Justice, alongside other entities. The task of upholding the traditional values was assigned to the Ministry of Justice by President Vladimir Putin in 2023. Konstantin Chuychenko declared that proper enforcement mechanisms will be developed to ensure regulatory compliance.

The participants pointed out that the traditional values — referred to as "timeless values" by Konstantin Chuychenko — should be seen in a broader context that includes and goes beyond traditional family values. The plenary speakers observed that the declaration of values in legal documents is not something new. The Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 contained articles on: democratic state; innate values of human being; human rights and freedoms; private property; and secular state. In its new version, the Russian Constitution — amended in 2020 — describes the core values that underlie the Russian society today: mutual trust between the state and society; protection of the dignity of citizens; respect for the individual at a workplace; a balance of rights and obligations of citizens; social partnership; as well as economic, political and social solidarity.

‘Without core values, neither society, nor the state, nor man can exist,’ stressed Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. The Forum participants pointed out that turning to traditional values does not mean abandoning further development. Tradition connects the past, present and future. Traditional values are not incompatible with progress. On the contrary, they lay the foundations for progress.

The International Youth Law Forum was organised by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in cooperation with St Petersburg University. The Youth Forum takes place on the opening day of the "big" legal forum — the St Petersburg International Legal Forum. This year, the Forum is expected to be attended by 20 Ministers of Justice and senior government officials from 34 countries.

Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities at St Petersburg University, reminded that St Petersburg University will celebrate its 300th anniversary next year. ‘At different times, in different historical contexts, St Petersburg University has always recognised the values declared in the Presidential Executive Order of November 2022: ‘justice; truth; collectivism; respect for history and traditions; and the priority of the spiritual over the material’. According to Marina Lavrikova, researchers and academics at St Petersburg University are ready to take part in the implementation of the ideas laid down in the Presidential Executive Order by: providing methodological support for educators; participating in updating Russian legislation, and improving academic programmes.

‘The implementation of the Presidential Executive Order on traditional values through establishing a legal framework is a task for the entire legal community of the country,’ said Sergei Belov, Dean of the Faculty of Law at St Petersburg University.

Vladislav Arkhipov, Head of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Director of the Centre for Research on Information Security and Digital Transformation at St Petersburg University, also contributed to the discussion. He noted that law, including new branches of law, such as digital law, cannot exist without essential values. ‘At the University, we teach legal norms and their internal structure. The prerequisites of a legal norm are, indeed, the hypothesis, disposition and sanction. However, the logical structure of a legal norm is formed by its value content. The same is true for the field of high technology. Even when creating artificial intelligence, the developers embed a core value system,’ said Professor Arkhipov. He underlined that traditional values are also necessary as a counterbalance to potential negative effects of the virtual world, including artificial intelligence applications.