Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

The art form of impersonating others is not exempt from this trend and has been incorporated into the soft-power arsenal. This precise and meticulously chosen tool for conducting information attacks may be far more effective than simple hard power: it can affect millions, discredit influential people, and split societies into factions based on the behaviour, speeches, and expressions of public figures. For example, if the prime minister of a neighbouring country expresses an opinion on sensitive issues in an official statement about upcoming events in the country, it could lead to the loss of population trust in that leader and, simultaneously, leave the message open to competing interpretations. One of the lesser-known tools for conducting information attacks in the Russian soft power arsenal is telephone trolling by pranksters. Thus, like a chef de cuisine, Russia’s political-military establishment is searching for recipes to prepare meals for the ’public’s eyes and minds. What would be the most suitable ingredients to prepare a popular dish? How should the final product be delivered? Who should be the target audience? Will it be aimed at a domestic audience or directed abroad (for example, at neighbouring countries and/or other regions and continents)? Ingredients for the dish might be personal dissenting opinions of influential politicians, famous actors, etc. The careful selection of targets and the use of different methods to extract information by provoking a target person allow attackers to obtain sensitive material and then build campaigns to publicise such information or to use it in subtle geopolitical games. These operations can play a crucial role in influencing people — such as a targeted country’s political leaders and influential celebrities — to steer an ongoing process in a desired direction.

The article presents a comprehensive examination of the Russian Federation’s use of United Nations (UN) mechanisms to advance its geopolitical objectives, obstruct international initiatives that contradict its policy, and wage information and psychological warfare. The analysis indicates that the Russian Federation’s participation in the UN Security Council lacks a clear legal foundation, raising questions about the legitimacy of its use of veto power’. It is documented that Russia systematically uses this privilege to veto resolutions aimed at condemning its aggression and investigating war crimes, thereby prolonging the war and evading accountability. Significant attention is given to Russia’s manipulation of UN peacekeeping operations, which it seeks to exploit to consolidate control over occupied territories. The study emphasizes Russia’s information and psychological operations within the UN, which facilitate the spread of disinformation, undermine trust in international institutions, and adversely influence state voting on critical resolutions in the General Assembly. The results obtained illustrate the necessity of revamping the UN decision-making mechanism, particularly by limiting aggressor states’ ability to exercise the veto in their own interests. Proposed procedural reforms aim to enhance the UN’s effectiveness in maintaining peace and safeguarding international security.

Many of us are living in apartment buildings and this form of living is becoming more frequent and popular with urban development. A large number of those living in apartment buildings are also owners of the apartment they live in (or other nonresidential premises in the apartment building). Not only rights, but also certain obligations are associated with the ownership of apartments. One of the legal obligations is to bear the common costs of goods and services, which are being provided to the apartment bulding. In Slovak republic, the division of these costs and the settlement of monthly advance payments is being done on an annual basis. The basis for the division of these costs is the proportionality of the use of the common parts and common facilities of the apartment building, which is expressed in the so called person months (metric unit for settlement). By not reporting the true number of personmonths to the administrator, an owner may gain material benefit (achieve higher overpayments and lower arrears) and this illegal financial benefit needs to be covered and compensated by other owners in the same apartment building. In terms of criminal law, the owner is committing fraud (a related offence to insolvency crimes). The authors analyze the legal aspects related to this criminal offence with relation to case law, legal doctrine, based on the systematical and teleological method of interpretation of relevant legal norms. The article addresses also issues related to the purposefullness of sanctioning of perpetrators, reflecting that the primary purpose of their fraudulent behaviour was enrichment (material gain).

Our paper tackles the issue of the European energy security and economic growth. Specifically, it evaluates the relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in the European Union (EU). Channels along which natural gas is supplied to the EU energy markets yield dependence from the Russian Federation which presents a threat to the European energy security. Our sample includes panel time series data over the period from 1997 to 2011 for a 26 EU countries. Based on neoclassical growth model, we create a multivariate model including gross fixed capital formation and total labor forces of a country as additional explanatory variables. Using panel cointegration tests, we found that there exists a long-run relationship between economic growth, natural gas consumption, labor and capital. In the short-run there is bidirectional causality between natural gas consumption and economic growth. The causality running from economic growth to natural gas consumption is positive. On the other hand, the causality, which runs from natural gas consumption to economic growth, is negative.