ИСТИНА

The author analyzes the current state of the Russian Special Forces through a [prism of] contradiction between the constitutional norms established by the Constitution and the political reality, on the one hand, and the lack of real public control over the Special Forces, on the other. The focus of the article is on the set of responsibilities that are to be carried out by the Special Forces in light of their excessive politicization and on the mechanisms of state and public control over their performance. International experience and the Russian practice of the public control over the Special Forces are studied. The law regulating the Special Forces’s activities has been critically evaluated. The need to develop independent mechanisms of public control by non-government human rights organizations has been acknowledged. Recommendations have been made concerning the need to update the legislation governing the activities of the non-government organizations and their authorities exercised in the areas of public control, legal expertise as well as the norms governing the public expertise of legal acts.