Problems of ensuring the safety of citizens participating in operational-search activities

This article examines the security of citizens participating in operational investigative activities. The law on operational investigative activities stipulates that, in order to ensure the safety of citizens cooperating with agencies conducting operational investigative activities and their family members, special protective measures may be implemented in accordance with the procedure established by legislative and other regulatory legal acts of Russia. Protecting citizens from post-criminal influence is a highly relevant task during operational investigative activities, which, like criminal procedural ones, are driven by the need to combat crime and, along with criminal proceedings, are aimed at achieving the ultimate goal of administering justice. The purpose of this study is to define a system of foundations and principles, where one of the prerequisites for the effective protection of confidential information is its legal regulation. The principles of this activity include secrecy, a combination of overt and covert methods and means, with particular attention paid to the principle of secrecy. Its essence lies in the implementation of operational investigative activities in a manner that keeps the tactics, content, forms, methods, forces, and means of conducting specific operational investigative activities and operations secret from outsiders (primarily from those committing crimes). Based on their research, the authors conclude that Russian legislation regulating operational search activities contains the necessary provisions to guarantee the safety of its participants. A significant portion of the security measures stipulated in the Law on Operational Search Activities is distinguished by the fact that, as demonstrated, they are not defined as separate, independent provisions. This is because ensuring the safety of individuals cooperating with operational search agencies is an integral part of various operational search activities, and therefore security measures are integrated into the provisions governing the overall procedure for conducting operational search activities, as well as into other provisions of the Law under review. These short-comings of the Law on Operational Search Activities should be taken into ac-count when improving it.