Lecture
Safeguarding national security depends on many circumstances, expressed in conditions and factors whose identification and consideration is of decisive importance. The state of the domestic economy, the imperfection of the system of organising state power and civil society, the socio-political polarisation of Russian society and the criminalisation of social relations, the growth of organised crime and the increasing scale of terrorism, the aggravation of inter-ethnic relations and the complication of international relations create a broad spectrum of internal and external threats to the country's national security. In this connection, the principal task of the national security system is to protect national interests from various kinds of threats. One thing, however, is indisputable: purposeful and effective provision of national security is impossible without the comprehensive use of the political, legal, economic, scientific and technical, spiritual and moral, informational, military and other capabilities of society and the state.
A threat is a real, immediate possibility of inflicting damage on vitally important interests. Any threat is characterised by at least four essential features. First, it is the highest degree of the transformation of potential damage into reality. Second, a threat is understood as the intention of some actors to inflict damage on others. Third, it is a demonstration of readiness to commit violence in order to inflict damage. Fourth, it is a danger that has grown dynamically.
Danger is a fully recognised but not fatal probability of damage being inflicted on national interests. The concepts of danger and threat are sometimes treated as identical, the difference between them being considered insignificant. Yet it is more correct to interpret danger as a certain probability of damage being inflicted; as this probability approaches unity, danger grows into a threat. This means that a danger may exist while no threat exists, and that under certain conditions a danger may acquire the character of a threat.
A security threat is the totality of conditions and factors that create a danger to the vitally important interests of the individual, society and the state. The real and potential threat to the objects of security, emanating from internal and external sources of danger, determines the content of activity aimed at ensuring internal and external security.
By their source of origin, security threats may be natural, technogenic or social in character.
Threats of a natural character are, above all, the possibility of substantial damage as a result of natural cataclysms: earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts and so on. Nature generates threats through the action of cosmic and terrestrial forces – mechanical, physical, chemical, biological, geological and others. These forces (factors) manifest themselves outside of and independently of consciousness, spontaneously, and are therefore often called "the forces of nature". But nature itself is also endangered as a result of the ever-increasing impact upon it of society and of the machinery and technology it has created. The result is precisely those ecological imbalances which then, in turn, dangerously affect the life activity of people and of human society.
Threats of a technogenic character are connected with a certain danger arising in the course of the operation of technical facilities: nuclear and hydroelectric power stations, enterprises of the chemical, oil, gas and other branches of industry. Technogenic danger is also presented by launches of space objects, air disasters, ship accidents, explosions at military depots of weapons and ammunition, accidents involving military equipment and so on.
Threats of a social character are connected with the activity of individuals, society and the state, which generate the greatest number of threats both to themselves and to the surrounding environment through the actions of various social forces – nations, classes, parties, groupings and power structures. The most characteristic sources of threats of various kinds are such human qualities as ignorance (incompetence), incapacity, carelessness and irresponsibility. An even greater role is played by outright malicious intent (criminal designs), general amorality, degradation of the personality and, at times, mental disorders. Among the most characteristic destructive forces of society one may single out the criminal world, political extremists, paramilitary formations that have escaped public control, and terrorism.
A destructive role is played, on the one hand, by the paralysis of authority and, on the other, by political arbitrariness, lust for power, nationalist and religious fanaticism, the moral degradation of a considerable part of society and the like. Their actions may be consciously planned (crimes against the individual, society and the state, coups d'état, terrorist acts, wars of aggression and so on), but they may also be relatively spontaneous, producing unplanned and often unpredictable results.
At present, security threats may also be of a complex character; for example, weapons are being developed that are capable of causing natural disasters resulting in the destruction of technical facilities hazardous to human life.
It is easy to see that these global sources of threats are simultaneously also the objects of threats. Each of the three areas named may be a source of threat to the other two and to itself. Accordingly, each of them also acts as an object of threat, being subjected to it from the other two areas and from itself.
What, then, are the principal threats to Russia's national security, and how should its security be ensured?
The principal threats in the international sphere are conditioned by the following factors: the aspiration of individual states, especially the United States and its allies, and of interstate associations, to diminish the role of the existing mechanisms for ensuring international security, above all the UN and the OSCE; the danger of a weakening of Russia's political, economic and military influence in the world; the strengthening of military-political blocs and alliances, above all NATO's eastward enlargement; the appearance and possible appearance in the immediate vicinity of Russia's borders of foreign military bases and large troop contingents (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, the Baltic states and others); the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery; the weakening of integration processes within the Commonwealth of Independent States; the emergence and escalation of conflicts near the state border of the Russian Federation and the external borders of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Afghanistan, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and others); territorial claims against the Russian Federation (the Baltic states, Finland, Japan and others).
Threats to the national security of the Russian Federation in the international sphere are also manifested in attempts by other states to counteract Russia's consolidation as one of the centres of influence in a multipolar world, to hinder the realisation of its national interests and to weaken its positions in Europe, the Middle East, the Transcaucasus, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.
What does Russia's military-political leadership set against these threats? First, the foreign policy of the Russian Federation is directed towards pursuing an active foreign policy course and strengthening the key mechanisms of the multilateral management of world political and economic processes, primarily under the aegis of the UN Security Council.
Second, in the foreign policy arena favourable conditions are created by all available means for the country's economic and social development, for the preservation of global and regional stability, and for the protection of the lawful rights and interests of Russian citizens abroad, including through the use for these purposes of measures of a political, economic and other character.
Third, relations with the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States are being actively developed on the basis of the principles of international law, as well as of integration processes that correspond to Russia's interests.
Fourth, Russia seeks full participation in global and regional economic and political structures, contributes to the settlement of conflicts, including peacekeeping activity under the aegis of the UN and other international organisations, seeks progress in the sphere of control over nuclear armaments and the maintenance of strategic stability in the world on the basis of states' fulfilment of their international obligations in this sphere, and also fulfils mutual obligations in the field of the reduction and elimination of weapons of mass destruction and conventional armaments, the implementation of confidence- and stability-building measures, and the provision of international control over the export of goods and technologies and the rendering of services of a military and dual-use nature.
Fifth, it adapts existing agreements on arms control and disarmament to the new conditions of international relations, and also, where necessary, develops new agreements, primarily on confidence- and security-building measures.
Sixth, it promotes the creation of zones free of weapons of mass destruction and develops international cooperation in the field of combating transnational crime and terrorism.
Ensuring national security and protecting Russia's interests in the economic sphere are priority directions of state policy. In the sphere of the economy, threats are of a complex character and are conditioned above all by the substantial reduction of Russia's gross domestic product, the decline of investment and innovation activity and of scientific and technical potential, the stagnation of the agrarian sector, the tendency towards the predominance of fuel, raw-material and energy components in export deliveries and of foodstuffs and consumer goods, including essential necessities, in import deliveries.
The process of ensuring Russia's national security in the economic sphere should be examined through both its external economic and its internal economic activity. In external economic activity the priority directions are: the creation of favourable conditions for the international integration of the Russian economy; the expansion of markets for Russian products; the formation of a single economic space with the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Under conditions of the liberalisation of Russia's foreign trade and the intensification of competition on the world market of goods and services, the protection of the interests of domestic producers is being strengthened, the activity of foreign banking, insurance and investment companies is being regulated, and definite and well-founded restrictions are being introduced on the transfer to foreign companies for exploitation of deposits of strategic natural resources, telecommunications, and transport and distribution networks. Necessary measures are also being taken in the sphere of currency regulation and control with the aim of creating conditions for terminating settlements in foreign currency on the domestic market and preventing the uncontrolled export of capital.
In Russia's internal economic activity, among the most effective measures one may name: the legal provision for reforms and the creation of an effective mechanism for monitoring compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation; the strengthening of state regulation in the economy; the adoption of the necessary measures to overcome the consequences of the economic crisis, to preserve and develop scientific, technical, technological and production potential, the transition to economic growth (the minimum task being to double the gross domestic product) while reducing the probability of technogenic disasters, raising the competitiveness of domestic industrial output and improving the people's well-being.
The principal ways of solving the tasks indicated are: the concentration of financial and material resources on priority directions of the development of science and technology, the provision of support to leading scientific schools, the accelerated formation of a scientific and technical reserve and of a national technological base, the attraction of private capital, including through the creation of funds and the use of grants, the implementation of programmes for the development of territories possessing high scientific and technical potential, the creation, with state support, of an infrastructure ensuring the commercialisation of the results of research and development with the simultaneous protection of intellectual property at home and abroad, and the development of a publicly accessible network of scientific, technical and commercial information.
Another, no less important direction is ensuring the security of the Russian state in the social sphere, taking account of the following threats: the deep stratification of society into a narrow circle of the wealthy and a predominant mass of low-income citizens, the increase in the share of the population living below the poverty line, and rising unemployment; the crisis of the healthcare and social protection systems; the growth of alcohol and narcotic substance consumption; the sharp decline in the birth rate and in average life expectancy in the country; the deformation of the demographic and social composition of society; the undermining of labour resources as the basis for the development of production; the weakening of the fundamental cell of society – the family; the decline of the spiritual, moral and creative potential of the population.
With the aim of countering the threats enumerated above, Russia's military-political leadership is carrying out work to ensure the protection of the cultural and spiritual-moral heritage, historical traditions and norms of public life, is doing everything possible to preserve the cultural assets of all the peoples of Russia, and plans to implement a set of measures in the sphere of state policy in the field of the spiritual and moral education of the population (one example being the State Programme "Patriotic Education of Citizens of the Russian Federation for 2001-2005" and its subsequent extension to 2006-2010).
Particular attention is being paid to monitoring – unfortunately, still with low effectiveness – the use of airtime in the electronic mass media for broadcasting programmes that propagate violence and exploit base impulses, as well as to countering the negative influence of foreign religious organisations and missionaries. A separate direction is the programme for preserving the role of the Russian language as a factor in the spiritual unity of the peoples of multinational Russia and as the language of interstate communication among the peoples of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
In the field of protecting and strengthening the health of citizens, the attention of society and of the bodies of state power of the Russian Federation is being intensified towards the development of state (federal and municipal), insurance-based and private medical care, the exercise of state protectionism in the domestic medical and pharmaceutical industry, and the implementation of federal programmes in the field of sanitation and epidemiology, the protection of children's health, the provision of emergency and urgent medical care, and disaster medicine.
Recently, new threats to Russia's security connected with the information sphere have come onto the agenda. Here a serious danger is presented by the striving of a number of countries for dominance in the world information space and for the displacement of Russia from the external and internal information market; the development by a number of states of a concept of information warfare providing for the creation of means of dangerous impact on the information spheres of other countries of the world; the disruption of the normal functioning of information and telecommunication systems, as well as of the integrity of information resources, and the obtaining of unauthorised access to them.
Proceeding from this, the most important tasks of ensuring the security of the Russian Federation in the information sphere are: the realisation of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation in the sphere of information activity; the improvement and protection of the domestic information infrastructure and Russia's integration into the world information space; countering the threat of the unleashing of confrontation in the information sphere.
A serious threat to the national security of the Russian Federation is presented by terrorism (including international terrorism) and the threat of the criminalisation of social relations. International terrorism has unleashed an open campaign aimed at destabilising the situation in Russia. The scale of terrorism and organised crime is growing as a consequence of changes in forms of ownership that are frequently accompanied by conflicts, and of the intensification of the struggle for power on the basis of group and ethno-nationalist interests. The absence of an effective system of social prevention of offences, the inadequate legal, material and technical provision for activity to prevent terrorism and organised crime, legal nihilism, and the outflow of qualified personnel from the law-enforcement bodies increase the degree of impact of this threat on the individual, society and the state.
In addition, the serious miscalculations made at the initial stage of the reforms in the economic, military, law-enforcement and other fields of state activity, the weakening of the system of state regulation and control, the imperfection of the legal framework and the absence of a strong state policy in the social sphere, and the decline of society's spiritual and moral potential are the principal factors contributing to the growth of crime, especially its organised forms, and of corruption. The consequences of these miscalculations are manifested in the weakening of legal control over the situation in the country, in the merging of individual elements of the executive and legislative authorities with criminal structures, and in their penetration into the sphere of management of banking business, large-scale production, trading organisations and distribution networks. In this connection, the struggle against organised crime and corruption is of not only a legal but also a political character.
Under these conditions, the most important tasks in the field of combating crime are: identifying, eliminating and preventing the causes and conditions that generate crime; strengthening the role of the state as the guarantor of the security of the individual and society, and creating the legal framework and the mechanism for its application necessary for this; strengthening the system of law-enforcement bodies, above all those structures that counteract organised crime and terrorism, and creating conditions for their effective activity; involving state bodies, within the limits of their competence, in activity to prevent unlawful acts; expanding mutually beneficial international cooperation in the law-enforcement sphere, primarily with the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The decisions and measures adopted by the bodies of state power in the field of combating crime are today open, specific and comprehensible to every citizen. At the heart of this work are placed the equality of all before the law and the inevitability of accountability, irrespective of official rank or financial backing.
With a view to preventing corruption and eliminating the conditions for the legalisation of capital acquired by unlawful means, an effective system of financial control is being created in the country, measures of administrative, civil and criminal-law influence are being improved, and a mechanism is being developed for verifying the property status and sources of income of officials and employees of organisations and institutions irrespective of their form of ownership, as well as the correspondence of their expenditures to those incomes.
The struggle against terrorism, especially international terrorism, the narcotics trade and smuggling is conducted on the basis of a nationwide set of countermeasures to suppress these types of criminal activity. On the basis of international agreements, Russia cooperates effectively with foreign states, their law-enforcement bodies and special services, as well as with international organisations whose task includes combating terrorism. To this end, international experience in combating this phenomenon is widely drawn upon, a coordinated mechanism for countering international terrorism is being worked out, and all possible channels of the illegal trafficking of weapons and explosives within the country, as well as their inflow from abroad, are being blocked. At the same time, work in this sphere does not always bring one hundred per cent success, and terrorist acts on the territory of Russia have not yet become a matter of history.
Despite the measures being taken, the level and scale of threats in the military sphere are increasing. This is largely facilitated by the following negative tendencies present in the Russian Federation: the protracted process of reforming the defence industrial complex, insufficient funding of national defence and the imperfection of the normative legal framework; the attainment of an inadmissible level of decline in the equipping of the troops (forces) with modern armaments and military and special equipment; the acuteness of the social problems of service personnel. In addition, NATO's transition – elevated to the rank of a strategic doctrine – to the practice of forcible (military) action outside the bloc's area of responsibility and without the sanction of the UN Security Council, the increasing technological lead of a number of leading powers and the build-up of their capabilities for creating armaments and military equipment of a new generation, as well as the intensification of the activity on the territory of the Russian Federation of foreign special services and of the organisations they use, create the preconditions for a qualitatively new stage of the arms race and a radical change in the forms and methods of conducting military operations.
The National Security Concept of the Russian Federation states that the main goal in this field is to ensure the capacity for an adequate response to the threats that may arise in the twenty-first century, at a rational level of expenditure on national defence. In what way, then, does Russia's military-political leadership ensure the fulfilment of this goal?
First, in preventing wars and armed conflicts, preference is given to political, diplomatic, economic and other non-military means, provided there is military might sufficient for Russia's defence. The possibility of employing military force to ensure its national security is considered on the basis of the following principles: the use of all forces and means at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, in the event of the necessity of repelling armed aggression, if all other measures of resolving the crisis situation have been exhausted or have proved ineffective; the use of military force within the country is permitted in strict accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws in cases where there is a threat to the lives of citizens, to the territorial integrity of the country, or a threat of the violent alteration of the constitutional order.
Second, a most important task has become the exercise of deterrence in the interests of preventing aggression of any scale, including with the use of nuclear weapons, against Russia and its allies. To this end the Russian Federation carries out measures aimed at maintaining a high degree of combat readiness of its nuclear forces, capable of guaranteeing the infliction of a specified level of damage on any aggressor state or coalition of states under any conditions of the situation.
Third, the organisational and establishment measures for modernising the Armed Forces are based on the following principle: with their peacetime combat composition the Armed Forces must be capable of ensuring the reliable defence of the country against air attack and, jointly with other troops, military formations and bodies, of accomplishing the tasks of repelling aggression in a local war (armed conflict), as well as of carrying out strategic deployment for accomplishing tasks in a large-scale war.
Fourth, effective interaction and cooperation with the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States continues.
Fifth, despite the reluctance of certain states, especially Georgia, Russia's military presence in a number of strategically important regions of the world continues. The stationing there, on a treaty and international-legal basis and on the principles of partnership, of limited troop contingents (military bases, Navy forces) ensures Russia's readiness to fulfil its obligations, contributes to the formation of a stable military-strategic balance of forces in the regions, enables the Russian Federation to respond to a crisis situation at its initial stage, and facilitates the realisation of the state's foreign policy goals.
Sixth, a thorough and scientifically considered restructuring and conversion of the defence industrial complex is being carried out without detriment to the development of new technologies and scientific and technical capabilities, as well as the modernisation of armaments and military and special equipment and the strengthening of the positions of Russian producers on the world arms market. Particular attention is devoted to the formation of the conditions necessary for organising priority fundamental, forecasting and exploratory scientific research, ensuring the creation, in the interests of the state's defence and security, of a forward-looking and anticipatory scientific and technical reserve.
A substantial role in matters of ensuring Russia's national security is also played by a carefully considered strategy in the domestic political sphere. Moreover, this strategy must be built on the basis of the existing internal threats to our Fatherland. A special place among these threats is occupied, first, by economic disintegration, the social differentiation of society and the devaluation of spiritual values, which contribute to increased tension in relations between the regions and the centre, representing a threat to the federative structure and the socio-economic order of the Russian Federation.
Second, ethno-egoism, ethnocentrism and chauvinism, manifested in the activity of a number of public associations, as well as uncontrolled migration, which contributes to the growth of nationalism, political and religious extremism and ethno-separatism and creates conditions for the emergence of ethno-national conflicts. In addition, negative processes in the economy underlie the separatist aspirations of a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation. This, in turn, leads to increased political instability and the weakening of Russia's single economic space and its most important components – production-technological and transport links, and the financial-banking, credit and taxation systems.
Under these conditions the leadership of the Russian state is organising comprehensive work aimed at bringing closer together the interests of the peoples inhabiting the country, establishing all-round cooperation among them, and pursuing a responsible and balanced state nationalities and regional policy that makes it possible to ensure domestic political stability in Russia. A comprehensive approach to solving these tasks constitutes the basis of domestic state policy, ensuring the development of the Russian Federation as a multinational democratic federative state. To this end there is being carried out, first, the strengthening of Russian statehood, the improvement of federative relations and local self-government, as well as the application of a comprehensive approach to solving legal, economic, social and ethno-political problems while maintaining a balanced observance of the interests of the Russian Federation and its constituent entities.
Second, the constitutional principle of the sovereignty of the people is implemented on the basis of the concerted functioning and interaction of all bodies of state power, a strict vertical chain of executive authority and the unity of Russia's judicial system, by means of: observance of the constitutional principle of the separation of powers; the establishment of a clearer functional distribution of powers among state institutions; the strengthening of Russia's federative structure through the improvement of its relations with the constituent entities of the Russian Federation within the framework of their constitutional status.
Third, the principal directions for protecting the constitutional order in Russia have been chosen as follows: ensuring the priority of federal legislation and improving, on this basis, the legislation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation; developing organisational and legal mechanisms for protecting state integrity and ensuring the unity of the legal space and of Russia's national interests; devising and implementing a regional policy that ensures an optimal balance of federal and regional interests; improving the mechanism that impedes the creation of political parties and public associations pursuing separatist and anti-constitutional aims, and suppressing their activity.
Fourth, efforts aimed at combating crime and corruption are being consolidated. Russia is extremely interested in eradicating the economic and socio-political basis of these socially dangerous phenomena and in devising a comprehensive system of measures for the effective protection of the individual, society and the state against criminal encroachments.
Fifth, a system of measures of effective social prevention and of the education of law-abiding citizens is being formed. These measures are aimed at protecting the rights and freedoms, morality, health and property of every person irrespective of race, nationality, language, origin, property and official status, place of residence, attitude to religion, convictions, membership of public associations, or other circumstances.
In recent times the process of ensuring Russia's national security has been substantially affected by the threat of a deterioration of the ecological situation in the country and the depletion of its natural resources. This threat is directly dependent on the state of the economy and on society's readiness to recognise the global scale and importance of these problems.
For Russia this threat is especially great because of the predominant development of the fuel and energy branches of industry, the underdevelopment of the legislative basis of environmental protection activity, the absence or limited use of resource-conserving technologies, and the low level of ecological culture. There is a tendency to use the territory of Russia as a place for processing and burying materials and substances hazardous to the environment. Under these conditions, the weakening of state supervision and the insufficient effectiveness of the legal and economic mechanisms for the prevention and elimination of emergency situations increase the risk of technogenic disasters in all spheres of economic activity.
In the circumstances that have arisen, the leadership of the Russian state has assigned to the priority directions of its activity in the ecological sphere the following: the rational use of natural resources and the cultivation of an ecological culture among the population; the prevention of pollution of the natural environment by increasing the degree of safety of technologies associated with the burial and utilisation of toxic industrial and household waste; the prevention of radioactive contamination of the environment and the minimisation of the consequences of previous radiation accidents and disasters; the ecologically safe storage and utilisation of weaponry withdrawn from the operational inventory, above all nuclear submarines, ships and vessels with nuclear power plants, nuclear munitions, liquid rocket fuel and nuclear power station fuel; the storage and destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles in a manner safe for the natural environment and the health of the population; the creation and introduction of safe production facilities, the search for ways of making practical use of ecologically clean sources of energy, and the adoption of urgent environmental protection measures in the ecologically hazardous regions of the Russian Federation.
Proceeding from the content and specific features of particular spheres of the life of society and from the threats to the security of the individual, society and the state, national security may be divided into political, economic, social, ecological, informational, military and other types of security. What do these components of national security represent? What is their essence, what are their specific features and their present condition?
Political security is such a state of the political system as guarantees the rights and freedoms of citizens and social groups, ensures a balance of their interests, the stability and integrity of the state and its favourable international position. Political security is a constituent part, the main link and the foundation of national security.
Economic security is such a state of the life activity of the individual, the social group and society as a whole in which the protection of their material interests against destructive, subversive actions is guaranteed, the harmonious, socially oriented development of the economy is assured, and the state's ability to determine, without outside interference, the paths and forms of its economic development is ensured.
Security in the social sphere may be defined as such a state of development of the individual, of various groups of the population, of society and of the state in which they retain satisfaction with their social status, and in which relations within and among them are non-confrontational in character. A secure society is one in which social partnership, inter-ethnic peace and civil accord prevail. In other words, social security includes the prevention and neutralisation of dangers threatening the social well-being of citizens, the social integrity of society and its social stability. At times the scale and acuteness of these dangers and threats reach a critical mark. It is precisely such a situation that has developed in Russia in our own day.
Military security is a stable state of protection of society and the state against external and internal military threats. It characterises the state's ability to counteract the outbreak of war and involvement in war and, should war break out, to reduce to a minimum the damage and destructive consequences for the country's national security.
Information security is the state's ability to protect all spheres of public life and the consciousness and psyche of citizens against negative informational influence, to provide managerial structures with reliable data for their successful functioning, to prevent the leakage of classified information of public value, and to maintain constant readiness for information confrontation within the country and on the world stage.
Ecological security is such a state of the life activity of the individual, society and the state in which their contradictions with the surrounding environment are prevented or resolved in good time, that is, in which the permissible norms of human impact on nature are not violated. The most important spheres of ecological security, such as the protection of the seas and the atmosphere from pollution, the saving of the Earth's ozone layer, and the overcoming of the dangers associated with sources of radiation and chemical contamination, depend chiefly on the joint efforts of states.
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