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The article is devoted to the examination of the problems of providing support for ecological safety of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation when genomic technologies are being implemented. Relying on the results of the analysis of core documents of the state strategic planning, normative legal acts, programs and plans defining strategic determinations of socio-economic development of the Arctic zone, as well as normative legal acts regulating genomic technologies, the authors determine the main threats (risks) to ensuring ecological safety of the region, analyze potential economic and environmental possibilities for the application of certain genomic technologies with due regard to the vulnerable ecosystem of the Arctic.

The paper is devoted to the study of theoretical problems of legal provision of ecological, biosphere and genetic security in the system of national security of the Russian Federation. It is noted that from the legal point of view the process of «legitimization» of the term (concept) of environmental safety has been successfully completed. This term is widely used in legislation and law enforcement practice, however, the term «environmental safety» still does not have a pronounced context, distinguishable, for example, from the terms «environmental protection», «environmental risk», «sustainable development». If there is a legitimate (conservative) understanding of environmental safety, there is still no modern legal and clear, unambiguous and essential content of the concept of «safety» (including genetic, biological, biosphere, evolutionary and other currently relevant types of safety). Attempts to define safety (along with vulnerability) through threats, damages, stability, losses, have the right to exist, but do not give adequate and substantial sense. Based on the analysis of the current legislation and strategic planning documents, it is concluded that new theoretical and methodological approaches to the understanding of both the basic concept of «safety» and the concept of «environmental safety» are required. According to the authors, due to the emergence of new global challenges and threats (genetic, biosphere, biological, climatic, etc.) in a specific law it is advisable to revise the underlying definition of environmental safety, stressing its specificity. It is important to form the conceptual framework, including the definition and assessment of threats, risks; to select standards and methods of evaluation, classification of threats, their records; to provide for the variability of action of state authorities and local self-government in case of security threats and also the mechanism of participation of citizens and public associations in environmental decision-making on issues of environmental safety.

Environmental regulation is a mechanism that restores the balance on the path of sustainable socioeconomic development of Russia.The paper examines the problems of regulatory pressure from the EU and the US on the implementation of the environmental and energy policy in Russia. It is shown that the national environmental legislation, the national environmental regulation of Russia is increasingly dependent on environmental regulations and standards of the EU and the United States. Foreign environmental rule-making as an element of expansion is manifested not only in the example of the carbon tax, but also in many other cases. The EU directives are built on the principle of preserving the quality of the environment and individual components, but at the same time, they are the instruments that allow the EU member states to enjoy a certain kind of advantages over other countries that are not included in the EU environmental control zone.The authors conclude that gradually, in foreign practice, environmental regulation is becoming not only and not so much a tool for protecting the environment as a convenient mechanism for solving economic problems.The authors conclude that the only way to resist the obvious expansion of environmental rule-making is to have a proven and obvious “environmental” alternative. Leadership in the field of environmental management, environmental safety will give the economic policy of the Russian Federation meaning and support from the whole world in the event that national environmental standards have their own content that is different from others (the EU and the USA).

The paper discusses the strategic directions of legal support of environmental safety in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, including the concept, specificity, types of environmental hazard, as well as the criteria, boundaries and possibilities for ensuring environmental safety in the Arctic region. Based on the analysis of the existing and future state programs and areas of economic development in the Arctic, the main trends in the socioeconomic development of the Russian Arctic are identified and analyzed. The authors formulate key compensatory mechanisms for preventing threats and risks of ensuring environmental safety in the Arctic by changing the conceptual approach to the system of natural resource management by ecosystem management model, as well as the development and implementation of nature-like technologies. The conclusion is substantiated that, given the special nature of the development of the Arctic, it is required to adopt a single continuous and balanced in terms of goals, objectives, resources, implementers, a long-term sustainable development plan for the Arctic, taking into account both economic and environmental safety criteria.