PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION OF RUSSIA WITH THE STATES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION OF RUSSIA WITH THE STATES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

Polina Ivanova

Master of Law, Kutafin Moscow State Law University,

Russia, Moscow

According to Y.K. Krasnov, V.V. Nadvikova and V.I. Shkatulla, "the principles of law are the main ideas, guidelines that determine the content and direction of legal regulation. On the one hand, they express certain laws of law, and on the other hand, they represent the most general norms that operate in the entire sphere of legal regulation and apply to all subjects. These norms are either directly formulated in the law (norm-principle), or are derived from the general meaning of the laws." [1, p. 211] This definition can be recognized as a working definition for further analysis of the legal principles of international cooperation, subject to the following clarification: these authors call "norms" even those laws that are not formulated directly in legal acts, but only follow from the "spirit" of laws, which is unusual for the Romano-Germanic legal family, but typical for the family case law. However, the most accurate, from the standpoint of the Romano-German lawyer, it seems to define the generic concept of a legal principle as a normative regularity expressed in a legal idea.

With regard to the origin of international principles, it is necessary to highlight such a feature as their conciliatory nature. In particular, L.P. Anufrieva, criticizing the position of T.N. Neshatayeva, emphasizes the conciliatory nature of "international law, which cannot be denied (I would like the author to understand this, because the urgency of defending it is especially clearly put forward in the first place in modern conditions, and rejection of it would not just be counterproductive, but also it is disastrous for the international community and humanity as a whole)" [2, p. 128].

K. G. Borisov identified a number of principles specific to the research sphere of international cooperation:

- firstly, the parties should be free to choose the direction and methods of scientific research;

- secondly, the parties to international cooperation should be free to choose the form in which their relations will be organized;

- thirdly, the parties should cooperate not only in making scientific discoveries, but also in their real application;

- fourth, the parties should assist each other in research, proceed from their equality and non-discrimination of the subjects of cooperation;

- fifth, reciprocity and, in particular, equivalence in the exchange of scientific and technical information [3, p. 9].

However, it seems that a more correct approach would be to identify the entire hierarchy of the principles of scientific cooperation, since, like other legal norms, the principles of international scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and the states of Southeast Asia constitute a hierarchical structure.

The principles of the first level should include the generally recognized principles of international law specified in the UN Charter and the Declaration on the Principles of International Law [4]. The Declaration includes 7 principles:

- non-use of force or threat of force;

- peaceful settlement of disputes;

- non-interference in the internal competence of the state;

- The obligation of States to cooperate with each other within the framework of the UN Charter;

- equality and self-determination of peoples;

- sovereign equality of states.

The seventh principle establishes the requirement of good faith in their observance. However, it seems that this principle is not an independent principle of international law, but a general requirement for States to comply with all other principles, since it concerns not the content, but the nature of the implementation of legal prescriptions in each specific case.

It is believed that these provisions are jus cogens, that is, obligations of the highest order, which cannot be canceled by States either individually or by agreement among themselves [5].

The second group of principles consists of international principles governing certain areas of international relations. Thus, under the Agreement between the Government of the USSR and the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic on the Establishment of an Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation (Article 6 [6]), the representative office of the Russian Federation, its premises, property and archives enjoy immunities and privileges similar to those provided for in respect of the diplomatic mission, its premises, property and archives In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961 [7], the staff of the mission, as well as members of their families in the territory of the Lao PDR, enjoy immunities and privileges similar to those provided for in respect of members of the diplomatic staff of the diplomatic mission and members of their families in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961 [8]. Thus, the relations of the Parties are subject to the principles of the duties of the receiving State (including the principle of respect and protection of the property of the mission), the principle of seniority, the principle of diplomatic (according to the second provision - consular) immunity of officials who are part of the Intergovernmental Commission.

Thirdly, we are talking about the principles (excluding the UN principles common to any international cooperation, enshrined in its Charter), which the ASEAN States included in Article 18 of their 1976 Treaty [9]:

(a) Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all States. As can be seen, this provision includes 6 principles that boil down to the obligations of States to respect certain values arising from interstate relations;

(b) The right of every State to exist without outside interference, subversion or coercion. Apparently, we are talking about the inadmissibility of hostile actions of one state against another state;

c) non-interference in each other's internal affairs. A similar principle of non-interference in internal affairs also applies in European international law;

(d) Settlement of disagreements and disputes by peaceful means. It should be noted that this principle is enshrined in the charters of many regional organizations like ASEAN (in the Pact of the League of Arab States, in the African Union, in the OSCE Final Act of 1975, etc.), however, it is important that it is enshrined directly in this treaty, and does not follow from its meaning (as from article V of the LAS Pact);

e) refusal to use force or threat of use of force. Apparently, this provision refers to the inadmissibility of aggression in any form, but, obviously, it does not apply to cases of self-defense of the state;

(f) Effective cooperation among themselves. In particular, according to subparagraph "b" of paragraph 3 of the Regulations on the Russian parts of intergovernmental commissions on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation between the Russian Federation and foreign countries, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 26.08.2020 N 1292 [10], scientific and technical cooperation should be effective on the basis of the implementation of the most promising areas and projects, increasing Russian exports goods and services and their diversification, attracting foreign investments and advanced foreign technologies to the Russian Federation. This provision of the intra-national act is also implemented in bilateral (international) cooperation on the part of Russia.

Fourth, a number of principles of scientific and technical cooperation are contained in bilateral interstate agreements. Thus, the Trade Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia dated 12.03.1999 establishes such principles as:

- the principle of equality (Article 1 [11]);

- the principle of mutual benefit (Article 1);

- and, most significantly, the principle of the most favored nation (article 2 of the Trade Agreement). The concept and content of this principle is enshrined in international law. According to Article 1, Part 1 of the GATT, it consists in the fact that "with respect to customs duties and fees of all kinds imposed on import and export, or in connection with them, or on the transfer abroad of payments for import or export, as well as with respect to all regulatory rules and formalities in connection with import and export export, any advantage, favor, privilege or immunity granted by any contracting party in respect of any goods originating from the territory of all other contracting parties." [12]. The peculiarity of this principle is, in particular, its extension only to those rules that exist within a certain customs regime: if a particular rule prohibits a particular action for participants in customs relations of all states, it cannot be refuted by the principle of the most favored nation. It is considered that this principle applies to customs duties and fees, methods of their collection, methods of payment for both goods and payment (international payment) transactions themselves, specific customs (export-import and other) formalities, including customs clearance and customs procedures, transit, etc.

The Agreement between the USSR and Singapore dated 07.11.1974 in Article 1 establishes the following principles of future cooperation:

- mutual respect for sovereignty;

- equality in the relations of scientific cooperation;

- mutual non-interference in internal affairs;

- compliance of actions aimed at cooperation with the national legal order of each of the parties [13].

The Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Myanmar on Mutual Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (dated 11.02.2005 [14]) highlights the following principles: the principle of friendly relations (this principle became the main one on which the Joint Declaration on the Foundations of Friendly Relations between the Russian Federation and the Union of Myanmar dated 03.07.2000 was based), equality and mutual benefit. In general, attention is drawn to the frequency of application of the principle of mutual benefit. We are talking about the emergence in the relations of the parties of the principle of acting in their own interest, which has never been disputed in international law, but has not become universally recognized. On the contrary, when it comes to investment, economic, scientific and technical cooperation, this principle can become one of the fundamental ones.

Fifth, in cases where agreements on scientific and technical cooperation can be divided into general and special, special principles of scientific and technical cooperation in certain areas can be distinguished. In particular, as noted above, there are two Agreements between the Russian Federation and the Republic of the Philippines concerning scientific and technical cooperation: the general Agreement of 1996 and the special Agreement concerning military-technical cooperation of 2017.

From the text of the second of these agreements, the following special principles of scientific and technical cooperation can be distinguished: - the security of the transmitted information, i.e. the state of uncertainty and the inadmissibility of its transfer to third parties (Article 4 [15]). The same applies to the results obtained as a result of scientific and technical cooperation; - the principle of controlling the targeted use of military-technical products. In addition, the principle associated with the exercise by Russia and the Philippine Republic of the rights and obligations arising from this Agreement seems to be significant.: this activity of the parties is subject to their own, domestic national legislation (Article 3), which, thereby, receives priority over the concluded Agreement.

Similarly, the principles established in the Protocol between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the SRV, approved by Government Decree No. 928 of the Russian Federation dated December 23, 2002, can be considered as special (valid only in relation to certain areas of scientific and technical cooperation). As follows from the Preamble of this Protocol, cooperation in the field of exploration and production of hydrocarbons is carried out on the basis of three principles: 1) equality, 2) mutual benefit, 3) in accordance with the national legal order of each of the states [16].

Article 1 of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Malaysia on Cooperation in the Field of Information and Communication Technologies (hereinafter – the ICT Agreement [17]) introduces the principle of mutual "promotion of closer cooperation" (it seems that we are talking about the desire for closer cooperation) and the exchange of information related to the field of ICT. The same article enshrines such principles (referred to as "basic principles") as equality, partnership and mutual benefit. As in many other agreements, it is specifically stipulated that any activity of the parties "is carried out in accordance with ... the regulations of each of the countries and under no circumstances restricts the right of any of the Contracting Parties to implement measures related to the protection of their national interests." The Agreement also contains the principle of confidentiality of information received from the other party (Article 7).

Another Agreement that should be attributed to the number of special ones is on military–technical cooperation concluded between Russia and Thailand in 2017. As follows from Article 1 of this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the MTC Agreement), its Parties based their relations on two groups of principles: firstly, on the "principles of ... international law", and secondly, on mutual respect, trust and consideration of the interests of each of the Parties." [18]

Unfortunately, the principle of mutual respect declared by the Parties in this Agreement does not have a clear legal content, and therefore it is poorly amenable to legal analysis. Perhaps it is expressed in paragraph 2 of its Article 4, according to which any information transmitted in accordance with this Agreement is used exclusively for the purposes of this Agreement, and the information received by one of the Parties should not be used to the detriment of the interests of the other Party.

Another principle common to many (if not all) agreements on scientific and technical cooperation with the states of Southeast Asia - the principle of confidentiality of information. In particular, it is expressed in the fact that the party that received the information in respect of which the transmitting Party stipulated the need for confidentiality ensures its protection (article 4, paragraph 5).

So, the analysis of the concept of Southeast Asia suggests that, in geopolitical terms, this region includes the states that created the Association of South East Asian Nations, a total of 10. A characteristic feature of the sources of legal regulation of relations between Russia and the states of this Association is the predominance of intergovernmental agreements, which allows us to talk about a specific – intergovernmental level of cooperation in the field of science and technology.

Among the most typical principles governing scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and the states of Southeast Asia are: freedom of scientific search; cooperation in the application of scientific research results; interstate division of research fields; equality in ensuring high achievements; reciprocity.

In addition, it seems expedient to form a system of intra-national principles on the basis of which scientific and technical cooperation of the Russian Federation can be carried out. In particular, such principles could include: the State's lack of the status of an unfriendly State or non-alignment by the State in whole or in part to sanctions measures against the Russian Federation.

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