Introduction: This article deals with the study of ethical challenges and dilemmas that have caught the attention of academicians and researchers globally as a result of the unethical acts of many renowned businesses around the world. Ethics is a highly researched but little understood concept. Globalization has only added to this complex­ity. This research is an attempt to scrutinize the concept of ethics in business context, understand the varying layer, shades and dilemmas of ethics over space and time : a concept that is applicable globally, but varies locally. The aim of the investigation is to assess why despite such emphasis on ethical standards in business, unethical behavior is rampant.

Materials and methods: In the course of research, the authors track the evolution of the philosophy and concept of Ethics in various religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and the western world- up to the present times as we understand, practice and teach it today in business context.  

Results of the study: The study finds that the reason for the current ethical chal­lenge lies in the myopic view towards the concept of business and its goals as well as in the emphasis on understanding ethics as an externally taught or externally imposed behaviour instead of an internally inculcated character.  

Discussion and Conclusion: For ethical business to be effective, the study con­cludes that it needs to become an innate part of the character of a person and organiza­tions which through a supportive and nurturing environment, including the leader­ship, can internalize it in all aspects of life. Superficial attempts to showcase ethical conduct or enforce it through materialistic incentives will have only shallow and cos­metic results. Any ethical construct or system can not exist and persist in piecemeal and isolation. It needs to be all pervasive and inherent.

Introduction: The Syrian conflict remains one of the most acute unresolved conflicts of our time. Its internationalization, the active intervention of foreign states, especially the United States and Turkey in the dynamics of the conflict and their military presence on Syrian territory, remain obstacles to the settlement. However, the spring of 2023 was marked by a number of political events in the Middle East, which allow us to take a fresh look at the prospects for the Syrian peace process. Against the backdrop of increasing Israeli strikes against Syria, a serious strengthening of Iran's position and cross-border se­curity threats spreading from Syria in the face of de­teriorating socio-economic indicators in Syria due to Western sanctions, the leading Arab countries began to reconsider their relations with earlier rejected by them President B. Assad and started negotiations on the "return" of Syria to the Arab family.  

Materials and methods: Russian and foreign studies on the Syrian peace process, news sources of the world media were used as materials for writing the article. The methodological base was made up of discourse analysis and a comparative analysis of the approaches of the largest regional powers to the issue of resolving the Syrian conflict.  

Research results: The admission of Syria to the League of Arab States, the opening of diplomatic missions of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman in Syria allow us to conclude that the peace process is now in the hands of the countries of the Middle East region. The peace process also no longer consists of negotiations between the regional countries involved in the conflict and the Syrian government solely over the political structure of Syria, but rather consists of negotiations on the conditions for the legitimization of the Syrian au­thorities.  

Discussion and conclusion: At the same time, the role of Russia in the peace process is to organize negotiations between Syria and a number of the most authoritative Middle Eastern states: Turkey and Iran, in order to find acceptable conditions for the normalization and withdrawal of their troops from the territory of Syria in exchange for guarantees of their security and maintaining a certain balance of their interests in Syria and the Middle East region as a whole. The existing joint foreign policy interests in other regions of Russia with Turkey and Iran built interdependence relations and gave Moscow certain levers of influence on them in the Syrian negotiation process, which makes it an influential participant in the settlement of the conflict.

Introduction. Temporary protection is a form of international protection that is designed to provide a minimum level of protection in situations involv­ing large influxes of forced migrants. The 1951 Refu­gee Convention does not contain provisions dealing with mass influx situations. Within the framework of the United Nations (hereinafter referred to as the UN) since the 80s. XX century began to pay atten­tion to situations associated with mass influx (mass influx) or mass exodus (mass exodus), in particular, the Executive Committee of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (hereinaf­ter referred to as UNHCR) adopted a number of con­clusions regarding this issue. However, all interna­tional legal acts adopted at the universal level were of a recommendatory nature. At regional European level, Directive 2001/55/EC was adopted within the European Union (EU) on minimum standards for the provision of temporary protection in cases of mass influxes of displaced persons and on measures to maintain a balance in the efforts of Member States in relation to reception and consequences such a reception in 2001 This article makes an attempt to reveal the history of the development of temporary protection, its content and features of application in the EU. The authors also touch on the reasons for the different application of temporary protection in EU member states.  

Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the study was the following general scientific and special methods of cognition of legal phenom­ena and processes: historical and legal comparative method; method of system-structural analysis; for­mal logical method.  

Research results. As a result of the analysis, the authors found that when providing temporary pro­tection, a collective (group) approach is used to con­sider applications for asylum, rather than an indi­vidual one. This approach is intermediate and should not exclude the possibility of subsequently applying for refugee status. In addition, EU Member States at national level can extend the application of the Tem­porary Protection Directive 2001 across persons, space and time.  

Discussion and conclusion. The history of the development of temporary protection, its content and features of application in the EU are analyzed; it is justified that the decision to apply temporary protection is a politically motivated decision. It is concluded that despite the application of temporary protection in connection with events taking place in Ukraine, EU member states are still unable to agree on common measures to apply the principle of soli­darity and fair sharing of responsibility, which is en­shrined in the EU's founding instruments.

Introduction. International law issues of using subsoil are addressed in many legal researches, which cover the normative content of this term and the subsoil extension of a state sovereignty within the state’s boundaries and also the status of marine subsoil both within and beyond the continental shelf. Taking into account this wide array of research materials this paper addresses a rather specific topic, which is of huge economic importance for Russia, that is the past, present and future legal mechanism of subsoil management in Kara Sea. In addition to that the paper address in this context the sharp change in 2022 the international legal policy in the Northern Polar region, which was initiated by the seven western countries-members of the Arctic Council.

Materials and methods. International and national legal documents of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and also Russian Federation (which are applicable to the bottom of the Kara Sea) are used as materials for this research. The teachings of the qualified legal scholars devoted to these documents are also scrutinized. The author has relied upon general research methods as well as those which are specifically used by lawyers.

Results of the research. During the period of the Russian Empire only suggestions were published as to the international law possibility to extend the administrative functions of Russia to the bottom of the whole Kara Sea. During the soviet period (until Gorbachev’s “perestroika” start in 1985) Kara Sea bottom and its subsoil were unanimously qualified as a part of state’s maritime territory of the Soviet Union. The relevant act of legislation, however, was never adopted. At the same time, no legal act was adopted, what might contradict the doctrinal qualification of Kara Sea and its subsoil as being under the sovereignty of the USSR and under its exclusive state control. In 1985 such a legal approach ceased to exist: according to the first northern “Gorbachev’s” Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR only small part of the subsoil of Kara Sea was legally qualified as being under the sovereignty of the country. As for the larger part of such subsoil, it has legally received a “weaker” status – as subsoil of the continental shelf implying that foreign states have some rights on the continental shelf.

Discussion and conclusions. Up till nowadays the legal response of Russia to western states “sanctions” after the Coup d’Etat in Kiev in 2014 were always within international economic law. The fact that western countries introduced in 2022 nonregional disagreements with Russia in the policy in the Arctic Region has legal consequences for Russia. From this moment Russia is also free from the former tradition to respect its previous self-limitations in the Arctic relating to such western states. That covers, inter alia, self-limitations provided in the 1985 Decree relating to the status of subsoil in Kara Sea. In such a context the paper suggests “asymmetric” measures to be adopted by the Russian Federation within the law of the sea.

Introduction. This article discusses the problem of the lack of special legislative regulation of the institution of smart contracts, which is expressed, among other things, in the absence of a definition of the concept of a smart contract and a distributed ledger of transactions (blockchain) in the law. The authors made an attempt to identify the presence of negative effects on legal relations due to the presence of a legislative gap in the regulation of this institution.

Materials and methods. As part of the research, the author uses both general and specific scientific research methods. When studying the issue of the origin of the institution of smart contracts, the authors use the historical method, and when considering the issue of the existence of a gap in the legislative regulation of the institution of smart contracts in domestic law, they use the comparative legal method of scientific knowledge.

Results of the study. The authors come to the conclusion that one of the main problems currently existing in the field of legal regulation of smart contracts is the lack of special regulation of this institution, as well as the lack of legislative recognition of the concept of a smart contract and a distributed registry of transactions. The identified problems create obstacles to the development and application of the institution of smart contracts in civil law relations.

Discussion and conclusions. The study showed that the simplest solution to eliminating the regulatory gap of the smart contract institution is to legislate the concept of a smart contract and a distributed transaction registry in the wording proposed in the draft Law on the Central Federal District, which will make the use of this institution more attractive for participants in civil legal relations and will contribute to the development the specified institute.

Introduction. The article examines the positive and negative aspects of the application of the «principle of mutual trust» within the framework of European Union law. The positive features of the application of the «principle of mutual trust» include simplification of procedural aspects of the application of the law, strengthening of interaction between member states of the European Union, as well as harmonization of legislation. At the same time, the application of this principle by EU member states with low standards of human rights protection leads to their violation. The author's research shows that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, criticizing the negative aspects of the «principle of mutual trust»,v led to its evolution and strengthened the level of protection of the rights and freedoms of European union’s citizens as well as it strengthened the interaction between the EU Court and the ECHR.

Materials and methods. The methodological ground of the study based on the following general scientific and special methods of the recognition of legal phenomena and processes in the field of European law: the method of system-structural analysis, the method of synthesis of social phenomena, the comparative legal method, the formal logical method. For certain questions, statistical data was involved in the study. To identify further vectors for the development of interaction between judicial bodies used the content analysis.

Results of the study. Based on the results of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the evolution in the interaction of the two judicial institutions in the field of protection of the rights and freedoms of migrants and the rethinking of the principle of mutual trust are caused by the relaunching of the dialogue on the accession of the European Union to the European Convention of fundamental rights 1950 and by the deep awareness of the high significance of such accession for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe.

Discussion and conclusions. The principle of mutual trust is still a key point in building a trustful relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Currently, these judicial bodies have reached the highest level of convergence, which can be seen in the analysis of law enforcement practice.

Introduction. Interest in the countries of Southeast Asia has increased many times in recent years due to sanctions. A number of experts expressed concern that the ESG agenda in Russia would become less relevant, and sustainable development practices would be less in demand. However, these fears were not confirmed, since the green agenda is at a high level in Asian countries. It is important for Russian business to understand the processes taking place in the countries of this region. Indonesia was chosen as the object of study as the largest economy and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the region. The country has adopted the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Indonesia is decarbonizing due to the negative effects of global warming on the climate and nature of this state, as well as due to pressure from the international community.

Materials and methods. The paper analyzes statistical information, assessments of scientific groups and organizations, reports of ministries. Methods of analysis and synthesis, generalization and comparison, induction, etc. were used.

Results. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that in the country, in the interests of implementing the sustainable development agenda and ESG, a “Long-term strategy for low-carbon development and climate resilience until 2050”, an energy policy, a Forestry Law aimed at preserving forests, etc. .normative acts. Technological and organizational and managerial methods of decarbonization are actively used in state and corporate management. The main emphasis was placed on the restructuring of the energy sector (reducing the share of energy produced at thermal power plants in the energy balance and increasing the share of renewable energy sources); fight against deforestation; development of a subsidizing system for the purchase of electric vehicles; adoption of a "green taxonomy"; involvement of SMEs in green activities within the supply chains of large companies, etc.

Discussion and conclusion. The paper substantiates that the government of Indonesia assigns the main role in reducing emissions to the fight against deforestation. The goals and actions for the transition of the energy sector to RES conflict with the tasks of the coal industry. It is necessary to coordinate goalsetting at different levels of government, between different ministries, as well as with business. A conclusion is made about promising tools for reducing CO₂ emissions from the point of view of application in Russia.

Introduction. The article discusses the legislative framework in the field of information and cyber security in Russia and the European Union, as well as relevant changes to them. The changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation after the adoption on December 30, 2021 No. 441-FZ “On Amendments to Article 15.3 of the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” and Articles 3 and 5 of the Federal Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation”, as well as Council of Europe Convention 108 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (T-PD) of 1981, Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on its 128th session in Elsinore on 18 May 2018. (Convention 108+), 2021 Guidelines for the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data by and for Political Campaigns.

Materials and methods. The research materials were compiled by the Federal Law of December 30, 2021 No. 441-FZ “On Amending Article 15.3 of the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” and Articles 3 and 5 of the Federal Law “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation ”, Federal Law of July 27, 2006 No. 152 “On Personal Data”, Federal Law “On measures of influence on persons involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation” of December 28, 2012 No. 272, Federal Law “On Fundamental Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation” No. 67-FZ of June 12, 2002, 108 of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (T-PD), Convention 108+ and the Guidelines on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data by and for Political Campaigns 2021. The methodological basis of the study was the following general scientific and special methods of cognition of legal phenomena and processes in the field of personal data protection: the method of system-structural analysis; method of synthesis of social and legal phenomena; comparative legal method; formal-logical method.

Results of the study. The Russian Federation implements many of the provisions of the Guidelines for the Protection of Individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. However, there are those proposals that are not reflected in Russian laws. In addition, the Guidelines for the Protection of Individuals with regard to the processing of personal data actually allow organizations to transfer data to social networks for advertising, which in Russia can be regarded as a violation of the law.

Discussion and conclusion. At the moment, uncertainty remains in connection with the cooperation between Russia and European countries and Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe, the ECtHR and the HRC. In the near future, Russia will determine the list of European conventions that no longer meet its national interests, and denounce them. If Convention 108 is not included in this list, then Russia will be able to remain a party to the Convention and, consequently, to related documents. But still, even if the Convention under consideration and related documents are denounced, some of its positive practices can be adapted by Russian legislators and reflected in the Russian Federal Law in a slightly modified form.

Introduction. For the management of complex urban planning systems, the problems of choosing alternatives and finding effective solutions under conditions of risk and uncertainty in the interaction of many exogenous and endogenous factors are of great theoretical and practical importance. A special place in decision-making is occupied by an integrated approach that allows, based on artificial intelligence models, expert assessment, analytical and computational models, modeling methods and a number of other models and methods, to successfully apply various approaches to decision support, to provide a deeper and more comprehensive account of various factors. , their relationship, act in conditions of semistructured or unstructured information about the control object. In this regard, the problem of creating integrated intelligent decision support systems based on the theory and principles of hybrid artificial intelligence systems, mathematical modeling methods, system analysis, synthesis of control actions, etc. is relevant.

The purpose of this article is to clarify the conceptual foundations of information modeling technology in urban planning.

Materials and methods. To achieve this goal, the article used methods of problem analysis, synthsis, scientific approaches to solving the stated problem, classification of hybrid models used in information modeling in urban planning. The materials of the article are the works of scientists on the stated issues.

Research results. The article points out that the possibilities of modeling in urban planning are associated with the development of hybrid models, which are models that are built using various methods. The author determined that a hybrid intelligent system is a combination of: analytical models, expert systems, artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, genetic algorithms, simulation statistical models. The main task in the development of hybrid systems is to best combine different forms of representation and methods of knowledge processing in the decision-making process in the field of urban planning.

Discussion and conclusion. The article substantiates the importance of introducing hybrid models for studying the functioning and forecasting the development of urban infrastructure. Approaches to the creation of intelligent information systems for decision support in urban planning based on a combination of analytical methods and models, such as simulation modeling, computational calculations, optimization calculations with soft computing models, such as fuzzy systems, neural networks, genetic solutions of complex weakly structured or unstructured tasks. The creation of such systems will increase the level of managerial decision-making in urban planning, better assess the quality of the housing policy being pursued.