What is sabotage and what role does it play in wartime?

The definition of sabotage came from the military world, or rather from the practice of properly conducting battles with the enemy. It is worth noting that sabotage is one of the most dangerous ways of destroying objects of the material and property world, and also puts human lives at risk. Material and moral damage from sabotage can be colossal.

Thus, sabotage is carefully prepared, secretive, special events of a sabotage and reconnaissance group (SRG) or the actions of individual reconnaissance saboteurs, the main goal of which is to disable the most important objects and/or their elements by arson, explosion, flooding using means destruction that is not related to military action.

Concept and purpose

What does sabotage mean? From Latin this concept is translated as distraction, evasion.

If we consider sabotage in a historical context, then this act took shape when small forces resisted significant enemy forces on its own territory. Therefore, the scouts who were part of the sabotage group received the heroic title.

Sabotage that is aimed at causing harm to the population cannot be justified morally or legally. Thus, sabotage is a planned operation that is carried out secretly against the enemy.

Sabotage goals:

• Causing colossal damage to the material world by destruction;
• Undermining the country's defense capability;
• Causing damage to the country's economy;

All of the above goals may have similar features and may also be related to other goals.

Important! Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes liability for sabotage.

Types of sabotage

The following types of sabotage actions are distinguished:

• Implementation of explosive activities;
• Committing arson;
• Flooding of objects;
• Other actions leading to destruction.

Such sabotage actions are carried out in certain places in order to cause harm to the following objects:

• Industrial and other enterprises;
• In places where the maximum number of civilians gather;
• Vehicles;
• Other transport infrastructure facilities;
• Communications;
• Objects that support the life support of the population;
• Defense facilities.

In other words, everything is aimed at causing as much damage as possible to a specific object or territory.

Types of sabotage actions

Destruction, damage or destruction of important government facilities (making them partially or completely unusable) can be accomplished in several ways, these are:

• explosion;
• arson;
• flooding;
• the use of other methods of damaging objects.

This list is specified in Art. 281 “Sabotage” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is exemplary. In any case, illegal actions must be active, pose a public danger and lead to serious consequences of a destructive nature.

Criminal legal characteristics

Sabotage is a deliberate act that is aimed at negatively impacting material and property objects.

Any sabotage event poses a threat to the lives of civilians. Often the consequences of sabotage are very large-scale and can cause material and moral damage. As for the concept of intent, in the case of sabotage it contains a huge range of actions.

Any act can be accepted as sabotage, even if the attacker’s original goal was not to commit sabotage, but ultimately led to colossal destruction.

Direct intent differs in that the attacker must foresee socially dangerous consequences and be aware of the illegality of his actions.

What is sabotage?

Sabotage as an object of crime in criminal law is the most dangerous and terrible offense . The origins of sabotage come from the practice of conducting combat operations by troops of opposing states.

What is the definition of the word sabotage? The meaning of this word (from the Latin “diversio”) translated into Russian means evasion, distraction.

Sabotage means a planned and, as a rule, secretly carried out action directed against enemy forces, aimed primarily at weakening the economic potential of the state.

As a result of sabotage, the following goals are achieved:

1. To render unusable or significantly destroy infrastructure facilities of material importance of the state.
2. Damage defenses.
3. Disturb or introduce instability into the normal economic balance of the country.

The above goals are usually interconnected or intersect with other similar goals . All actions aimed at sabotage are either part of a larger scale action or consist of smaller events subordinated to one task.

As a result of sabotage, not only material and property objects of a region or country are destroyed, but also a danger is created, a threat to the life of a person and even a group of people.

History and feature films often show that sabotage activity is when one person or DRG (sabotage and reconnaissance group) carries out its activities in hostile territory among a larger number of opponents.

As a rule, such reconnaissance saboteurs are considered heroes in their ranks, in fact, the elite of military units.

However, if as a result of such actions, peaceful, innocent citizens die, especially if the sabotage was directed against such people, then it cannot be justified by any good motives, it is simply not acceptable.

Sabotage can be divided into the following types:

• economic;
• informational;
• political;
• psychological;
• electronic or cyber sabotage.

Let's look at the most common of them in more detail.

Economic

The main focus of economic sabotage is to obtain financial or other material benefits by appropriating resources and economic power or even complete control over them in a state or a separate region.

Also, this type of sabotage has some characteristic features, for example, it is hidden from the public (unlike an explosion of something or a cyber attack), its object of influence is the country’s economy or some industry, it can be directed at a group of individuals or organizations .

Ideological

Ideological sabotage is intended to influence all spheres of social life in the state - the ideological orientation, political course, economic interests, moral values, the legal system, the cultural component of society, scientific achievements.

All such actions are carefully hidden and disguised.

Cyber ​​sabotage

Virtual space is increasingly expanding its boundaries. Now this tool is actively used to carry out sabotage actions, including cyber attacks and propaganda.

Today, any organization and government structure has access to the Internet; law enforcement organizations of various ranks and purposes actively use the Internet.

Therefore, all these organizations and structures can be subject to the following types of cyber sabotage:

1. Infection of computer systems with viruses.
2. Hacking and unauthorized connection to an organization’s local network in order to steal, change, or destroy information.
3. Spam attack on electronic mailboxes.
4. Overload and server crash.

Examples of sabotage

1. In order to receive money, teenagers unwind the rails and hand over metal parts to special collection points.

Based on intent, teenagers commit theft, but ultimately create the possibility that their actions could lead to a disaster that they should have foreseen.

2. Cases when pyrotechnics are used in public places, resulting in arson. Currently, there are many such cases, they also include the negligence of employees who work in large enterprises.

Corpus delicti

The corpus delicti of sabotage necessarily includes the presence and implementation of criminal intent. The intent, as a rule, is aimed at destroying the social or state system. As part of a crime, there is a connection between the object and the subject of the crime.

The specific object is state property, the economic system, the defense capability of the country that is being attacked. Also included in the specific object are the property interests of the state and private individuals who were infringed during the crime.

The objective side is taken to be the presence of the fact of destroyed or damaged property that was caused during a sabotage operation.

The objective side includes all the means and instruments, the methods by which the crime was committed.

The place and method of carrying out a socially dangerous act are of particular importance.

The subject of a crime is a legally capable person who has reached the age of 16 (in some cases 14 years) and has committed a socially dangerous act against the state or society.

The subjective side contains guilt in the form of direct intent. In order to qualify sabotage, it is important to take into account all the subtleties and aspects of the crime that prompted the attacker to commit sabotage.

During qualification, it is also necessary to establish the relationship of the committed act, as well as the direct involvement of the subject in the committed act.

Types of subversive actions

Experts identify the following types of sabotage:

• at production enterprises (factories, factories);
• buildings for economic purposes (tunnels, dams, bridges);
• transport communication routes (roads, railways, metro, pipelines), as well as the means of communication themselves (all types of transport - cars, trains, planes, ships);
• buildings designed to ensure the normal functioning of citizens (boiler houses, warehouses, power plants).

According to the method of carrying out this crime, it is classified as follows:

• committing arson;
• destruction (by explosion);
• organize accidents;
• flooded;
• sabotage;
• other similar methods.

Experts say that the following types of sabotage pose the greatest danger to the integrity of the state and society as a whole:

1. Use of explosives, biological, radiation and chemical weapons.
2. Illegal use of one's official position.
3. Illegal disclosure of state secrets.
4. Stealing any important secret information.
5. Involvement in sabotage of the media and the international Internet.
6. The use of various public, commercial and, especially, religious associations.
7. Incitement to religious, military, racial clashes.
8. Material support for sabotage actions.
9. Promotion of civilians or even entire companies to commit sabotage.

It is worth noting that the list can be continued.

Qualifying features

Qualifying features allow you to determine whether a criminal act has taken place, and also establish the severity of the damage.

When qualifying a crime, it is important to take into account the signs of sabotage, which are aggravating. For example, an aggravating feature would be the commission of sabotage as part of a group of persons or causing death to individuals during a sabotage operation.

Important! A similar act that was committed in wartime, during a military operation, is not subject to criminal liability, since all the actions of the subjects of sabotage were aimed at undermining the combat capability of the enemy army.

A socially dangerous act is considered to be committed from the moment the actions were carried out that led to the destruction of property.

Difference from terrorist act

Clause 3, Art. 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation qualifies the preparation of sabotage, which was not committed for any reason or was prevented.

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In fact, it is quite difficult to indicate the fundamental differences between sabotage and a terrorist act, since these two crimes have different consequences.

However, it is still possible to highlight some differences - the difference between these two concepts lies in the purpose.

The purpose of sabotage is the destruction of property in order to cause property damage, and there is also moral suppression of the civilian population.

An analogy between sabotage and terrorism must be drawn on the following points:

• Based on how the attacker positions his criminal plans;
• By the presence of a political manifesto in relation to power;
• According to the presence of any conditions necessary for fulfillment.
• By the presence of intimidation or retaliation.

Terrorism, in turn, pursues the goal of mass moral suppression of its enemy. Terrorist consequences can have colossal scope and unpredictable consequences.

Thus, comparing sabotage and a terrorist act, we can conclude that during a sabotage operation there are human casualties, and when carrying out a terrorist act, the goal of destroying more people is the titular one.

Meaning of the word sabotage

Examples of the use of the word sabotage in literature.

Orenburg, pretending that you are going to Bashkiria in order to sabotage the villain and at the same time transport provisions and fodder for Orenburg, using all the opportunity and diligence to do so.
Already knowing everything that we knew in these years, he again allowed himself to be pulled onto the stage, to try to pass off stilted romance and monstrous lies as truth: the Trotskyist and demagogue Borshchagovsky appeared on the stage again, again the kulak son Zorin seduced the honest Komsomol member Belka Korneva , and then deserted from the construction site, and another kulak son, Bashkatov, committed sabotage and sabotage.

He was subconsciously afraid of sabotage, and the best way to organize sabotage in the camp was to attack the vivarium, namely the section where the microbe workers work.

If Volovik remains alive, he will be put on trial for criminal negligence or for sabotage in a combat situation.

Military training included both general training and the organization of sabotage, sniper business, radio communications, physical education, judo, swimming, setting up camps, driving and repairing cars and motorcycles.

General Karlovich, after this unsuccessful sabotage, went to the sea and took the Dynamunde fortress by storm, under which at the end of the assault he was killed on the spot with a musket.

We thought that everything would be calm on Diosda, but we were mistaken - the Zealots continue to commit sabotage.

Intensify sabotage against oil pipelines, the tanker fleet in the Caspian Sea, and railway loading trains.

Here the Kuwaitis transmitted messages to each other, distributed weapons, and planned sabotage.

Despite the alarming situation in the area, constant sabotage on the railway, letter trains departed exactly on schedule under heavy security of armored trains, accompanied by a recovery train.

Since this time three hundred million rubles turned to dust, and with them the Russian cosmonaut Mikitenko, the sabotage could not be the work of Russia itself.

Guerrillaism and sabotage are links in the same chain, these are our accounts of the key moments in the development of forms of small war, therefore sabotage turns into insurgency, and vice versa, military-type partisanship is interconnected with sabotage and insurgency: from individual acts, insurgency develops into a mass armed uprising and then into an organization military operations or it turns into its own negation.

Since our gravitational sabotage, Hawkmoth has already managed to pass at a minimum distance from the sun, and the Author simultaneously explained what a perturbation maneuver is.

When selecting, it must be taken into account that the impact of executions of hostages on those who commit terrorist acts and on those persons who, in France or abroad, bear moral responsibility as issuing orders or as promoting acts of sabotage and terror, the greater the greater the fame of those executed. .

On the other hand, it is not difficult to notice that the promotion of political freedoms in the Western world also pursues the goal of ideological sabotage against the Soviet Union.

Source: Maxim Moshkov library

Punishment and responsibility

Sabotage is qualified under Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a period of 10 to 15 years.

An act of sabotage committed by a group of persons, resulting in grave consequences, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 12 to 20 years. In addition, if sabotage actions resulted in human casualties, then the punishment will range from 15 to 20 years, and life imprisonment is also possible.

Arbitrage practice

In Russian judicial practice, cases of sabotage are few in number, since they are not made public. On the contrary, a terrorist attack is always covered on a wide scale.

Judicial proceedings in cases of sabotage are always closed. This is done to ensure that important information does not leak to the masses.

Thus, sabotage activities are always directed against state power and its principles, and therefore the punishment is also quite serious.

Sabotage in World War II

During the Second World War, sabotage carried out behind German lines was widespread. In order to carry out a successful sabotage, engineering forces were brought in. Special units of guards miners were also created.

Among partisans and underground fighters, sabotage also played a leading role. Such sabotage, with a small expenditure of forces and with minimal losses, caused colossal damage to the enemy. In World War II, the main target of sabotage was enemy communications. During the entire Second World War, thanks to sabotage, about a thousand trains, about a hundred railway bridges and a thousand highway bridges were disabled.

Sabotage in Russian law

In Russian law, sabotage is interpreted by Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to this article, sabotage is the carrying out of an explosion, arson or other actions that are aimed at damaging or destroying strategic enterprises, routes and means of communication, structures, objects that support the life support of the population, also with the aim of undermining economic security and weakening the defense capability of the state. Any of the above actions is punishable by imprisonment for a term of ten to fifteen years.

If a crime was committed by a group of persons, then imprisonment will be from 12-20 years.

As for the Soviet period of Russia, the reduction in sabotage was a little different.

Sabotage was understood as a crime committed with the aim of weakening the Soviet state system through an explosion, arson or other actions aimed at the mass destruction of the civilian population, as well as causing them bodily harm or other harm to health, with the aim of destroying or damaging enterprises, structures, routes and means communications.

And also for the purpose of causing harm to state or public property, or carrying out actions aimed at mass poisoning of the population, the spread of epizootics and epidemics.

Classification of sabotage

There are several types of sabotage.

Depending on the scope of subversive actions:

• economic – secret illegal seizure of large sectors of the economy, companies significant to the state in order to seize the country’s economic resources;
• political - destructive activities of employees of public authorities directed against the state;
• informational – influencing the population of the country for one’s own purposes by providing specially selected prepared information;
• cyber sabotage – hacker attacks on information resources that are significant for society and the state to deny access to them or change their content.

Depending on the nature of the subversive actions:

• active – direct destruction, disabling of material objects;
• passive – sabotage (deliberate failure to fulfill one’s official duties or their careless performance in order to counteract something), dissemination of “fake news”, etc.

Depending on the material objects of the encroachment:

• sabotage in production (for example, in factories, combines, etc.);
• sabotage of objects important from an economic point of view (dam, bridge, etc.);
• sabotage on transport routes and in the means of transportation themselves (on highways, ships, airplanes, etc.);
• sabotage at facilities that support people’s livelihoods (housing and communal services facilities, etc.).

Depending on the method of sabotage:

• by explosion;
• by arson;
• by flooding;
• by organizing an emergency;
• sabotage;
• other actions aimed at undermining the economic security and defense capability of Russia.

Also in the USSR, ideological sabotage was identified - a manifestation of dissent, expressed in a departure from communist ideology and a disposition towards Western “bourgeois” ideas.

The Soviet military encyclopedia defined ideological sabotage as “subversive acts of provocative propaganda of imperialist states directed against socialist and developing countries, one of the forms of manifestation of ‘psychological warfare’.” The term “ideological sabotage” was used at the official level and was part of the toolkit of the ideological work of the CPSU.

Sabotage in international law

In many states, special forces are created in the armed forces to conduct sabotage operations. It is generally accepted that sabotage operations during military operations should be carried out in small groups, the participants of which should be well-trained career officers. In addition, members of sabotage groups must be under illegal or legal cover.

Carrying out sabotage actions can be legal and illegal. Legality primarily depends on:

• Directly from the category of persons who participate in sabotage;
• From the object of the sabotage operation;
• From the methods used, tools and means used to achieve the goal.

An act of sabotage can only be carried out by combatants. Combatants are specially trained and technically equipped units of the armed forces, for example, members of commando units or members of the resistance movement. Thus, persons who lack combatant status cannot legally participate in a sabotage operation.

An act of sabotage pursues the goal of destroying or damaging the enemy’s material infrastructure, thus disabling certain military installations of strategic importance and violating the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the country. A sabotage operation can be absolutely legal if all legal norms are observed and the methods and means used do not contradict the law.

MAIN PART

In terms of its scope, sabotage is a general concept, because in volume one can imagine many objects (many crimes-sabotage). The concept is positive, because it reflects the characteristics that a given phenomenon has. The concept is specific in content, because we mean a specific phenomenon. Relatively, because in this concept, one object of thought (sabotage) implies the existence of another (saboteur), and without it it makes no sense. The concept is not collective, because by it we mean one phenomenon (a specific crime).

The sabotage is aimed at the economic and defense weakening of the Russian Federation. The subject of sabotage is those listed in Art. 281 of the Criminal Code, material objects related to any form of ownership.

First of all, they include energy facilities, the defense industry, transport (railway, air, sea and main pipelines), military facilities, etc. In particular, these can be: nuclear and other power plants; power and communication lines; oil and gas pipelines; mines; tunnels; bridges; dams; heat and water supply systems; warehouses for weapons, fuel and food; information computing and television centers, etc.

A factor that complicates the development of the concept and approaches to the classification of sabotage is the problem of identifying sabotage with terror and terrorism. In the dictionary of foreign words, “terror” is defined as a policy of intimidation, suppression of political opponents by violent measures. Article 205 of the Criminal Code of Russia provides for liability for terrorism, that is, committing an explosion, arson or other actions that create a danger of death, causing significant damage or the occurrence of dangerous consequences, if these actions were committed with the aim of violating public safety, intimidating the population or influencing decision-making by authorities, as well as the threat of carrying out these actions for the same purposes. The Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On the Fight against Terrorism” No. 130-FZ provides its formulation, but it is not laconic.

There is no consensus among scientists on the issue of the criminal legal definition of terrorism. Despite a certain commonality of goals of sabotage and terrorism, it is possible to identify some fundamental differences between the phenomena under consideration.

Thus, if Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which speaks of sabotage, provides an exhaustive list of criminal actions, then terrorism, in addition to those directly named in Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, includes a wide variety of other actions. In sabotage, the actions of criminals are aimed at causing harm, while in terrorism, they are aimed at intimidating the population and destabilizing the situation. The purpose of sabotage is mainly to weaken the state, and terrorism is to force a decision to be made or to deter a person from making one. A saboteur usually acts secretly, while a terrorist acts demonstratively, attracting the attention of the media and the population. A significant delimiting feature is also the ultimatum nature of actions in terrorism.

The essence of sabotage should be understood as a set of signs, characteristic features and distinctive features inherent in sabotage as a military-political and legal category, and constituting its internal content. Let us highlight the distinctive features of sabotage activity as a criminal act.

Firstly, a distinctive feature of sabotage activity is that it is aimed at undermining the foundations of the constitutional order and state security. At the same time, the intent of the saboteur includes causing harm to the economic interests and defense capability of the state.

Secondly, sabotage activities are distinguished by the hidden, non-obvious nature of execution.

Thirdly, a distinctive feature of sabotage activities is the need to develop an agent network and involve as many people as possible in criminal activities.

Let us outline the range of tasks for scientific research, primarily the task of developing classifications of forms, types of sabotage, means and methods of sabotage activities. We propose to classify sabotage into:

• economic;
• political;
• informational (or ideological);
• psychological (rumors);
• cyber sabotage (electronic sabotage, for example, hacker attacks on government websites).

If we briefly characterize economic sabotage, then from our point of view it is determined by the following features. The goal is to obtain benefits as a result of the appropriation of economic resources in violation of the principle of equivalence, while complete control over the economic resources of a region or state is not excluded. The nature of crimes hidden from society. The object of the attack is the economy of the state as a whole, individual sectors, groups of citizens and organizations. Significant damage caused to the economic interests of the state and society. Such sabotage is characterized by a non-obvious, multiple, systematic and ongoing nature, where it is difficult to establish the organizers, perpetrators and accomplices of the crime and the extent of their personal responsibility. It is important to consider that sabotage operations, as a rule, are carefully planned and the participation of accomplices can be both direct and indirect.

In turn, a particular example of ideological sabotage is the website of the Kavkaz Center agency on the Internet. Here is the text of the message in the “Cooperation” section: “The independent international Islamic agency “Caucasus Center” invites journalists and political observers to cooperate. In order to become a regular author of publications on the website KavkazCenter.com, you must send to our editorial office original material on any of the following topics - “War in the Caucasus,” Ichkeria,” “Prospects for the development of the situation in the Caucasus,” “Dagestan,” “Situation in the Transcaucasian countries", "Russian topics - the Kremlin, Putin, oligarchs, freedom of speech, the struggle for power, Putin's prospects, the Russian army, intelligence services, etc.", "Middle East", "Islamic world", "Afghanistan", "Politics USA”, “Situation and prospects in Central Asia”, or on any free political topic affecting important aspects of life in the modern world.”

The fact of ideological sabotage is beyond doubt. A certain international Islamic agency is carrying out a targeted campaign to discredit the Russian state, and is openly hiring journalists and political observers to commit criminal informational acts against Russia.

A special, recently emerged type of sabotage is sabotage against computers and computer networks. The spread of the Internet has opened up a lot of opportunities, both in the field of propaganda and directly in the field of armed struggle. It is advisable to divide the methods of committing computer crimes into three groups: methods of direct access to computer information; methods of remote access to computer information; methods of distributing technical media containing malicious computer programs.

The division of sabotage into forms (like any other classification) is to a certain extent conditional, but highlighting specific features of certain forms of sabotage is necessary to give greater focus and systematization to law-making and law enforcement activities in this area. From our point of view, the greatest danger is represented by the following forms of sabotage:

• Use of explosive devices for sabotage purposes; weapons, including biological, chemical, radiation.
• Use of official, public position or official powers.
• Use of information representing state secrets.
• Theft of secret information.
• Use of the media, including the Internet, and specialized literature.
• Use of commercial, public and religious organizations.
• Provoking military, religious, interethnic conflicts.
• Financing sabotage activities.
• Involvement of citizens and organizations in sabotage activities (recruitment of agents, creation of agent networks).
• Sabotage war.

It should be noted that the main purpose of an act of sabotage under current legislation is the deliberate defeat of one or another element of the economic security or defense capability of the state. However, we believe that the goals of sabotage are not limited to the objects specified in the law. Many acts of sabotage are aimed not only at undermining the economy and defense capability of the country, but also at inciting national and religious hatred and other dangerous purposes. Sabotage activities can be aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the state and destabilizing the political situation. Numerous signs of this phenomenon are currently observed on the territory of the Chechen Republic.

Thus, sabotage can have goals that last over time and include not only individual, but also massive, repeated, systematic actions. In connection with the above, we believe that Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation needs significant adjustments and additions. In particular, the law should clarify the types and forms of sabotage, differentiate sabotage by scale and consequences, determine the boundaries of material damage caused by sabotage activities, both individuals and organizations, measures of liability for damage from sabotage in any form; include in the law and disclose such concepts relating to the objective and subjective side of this crime as “sabotage operation”, “sabotage activity”, “sabotage war”, “agent of influence”, “agent network”, “sabotage group”, “financing of sabotage activities." It is necessary to introduce into the law special norms providing for increased liability of civil servants who are organizers, accomplices, instigators and executors of sabotage operations. In addition, clarity is needed in the classification of the various means used by saboteurs: explosive devices, weapons, information, computer viruses, arson and others, as well as methods of sabotage activities.