State Digital Sovereignty in Russian Law

This study is devoted to the state’s digital sovereignty, which is currently the subject of interdisciplinary scholarly debate. The article argues that no unified approach to the understanding of digital sovereignty has yet emerged in legal scholarship. In this regard, the Author advances the idea that Russian legal literature on digital sovereignty has developed primarily under the influence of technological and software-related challenges, in the context of the principle of technological conditioning. As follows from the ideas of I. L. Bachilo, V. A. Kopylov, P. U. Kuznetsov, and A. B. Vengerov, this principle served as one of the prerequisites for the formation of Russian information law. The article analyzes various Russian approaches to the understanding of digital sovereignty, including those of P. V. Stepanov, V. A. Nikonov, A. A. Streltsov, and others, and identifies their key aspects and advantages. On the basis of this analysis, the study offers a critical reconsideration of the theory of state digital sovereignty. An examination of current legislation reveals gaps in the legal regulation of digital sovereignty, including the absence of its statutory definition. In addition, the article considers the concepts of “digital networks,” “software,” and “digital technologies” in the context of Russian legal reality and identifies, within their content, categories directly related to digital sovereignty under current Russian legislation. The article states that state digital sovereignty has not previously been the subject of public-law dissertation research and that Russian legal scholars have not attempted to model state digital sovereignty through a categorical framework comprising technological sovereignty, digital sovereignty, and state sovereignty. In conclusion, the Author formulates a definition of digital sovereignty and states that this understanding, grounded in public-law aspects, may serve as a basis for the future legal regulation of the concept of “digital sovereignty,” as well as for the construction of a theoretical model of state digital sovereignty.

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