The Constitution of the Russian Federation, unlike the constitutions of some other countries (for example, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, the Constitution of Iraq or the Constitution of Kenya), does not mention specifically biodiversity, although its conservation is one of the main priorities of modern states. Nevertheless, according to the Decree of the president of the Russian Federation “On the Environmental Security Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025", the extension of measures for the conservation of biological diversity, including rare and endangered species of plants, animals and other organisms, their habitat, as well as the development of a system of protected natural areas, has to be a top priority in order to solve the main problems of environmental security in Russia.
In the Russian legal system, the relations in the field of conservation of biological diversity are mainly governed by environmental legislation, which establishes environmental requirements for all activities carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation, its continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone that have or could have a negative impact on the environment (its components), it also defines the main methods of state regulation of such an impact (environmental impact assessment and environmental impact assessment), negative environmental impact charges, environmental insurance, state environmental monitoring, industrial and public control in the field of Environmental protection, etc.
The federal law on environmental protection of 10 January 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the law on Environmental protection), which is the fundamental law of the environmental law of Russia, lays down a number of essential provisions and plays an essential role in the conservation of the country's biological diversity.
Thus, Article 4 of the law on environmental protection gives a closed list of objects of environmental protection against pollution, degradation, deterioration, destruction and other negative effects of economic and other activities, including: forests and other vegetation, animals, other organisms and their genetic resources.
Although biological diversity is not enlisted as one of the objects of environmental protection, article 3 of the law on Environmental protection formulated the principle of "conservation of biological diversity". This principle is fundamental for many economic and other activities, in particular in the placement of buildings, structures and other facilities, it is necessary to be satisfied that the requirements of environmental protection are adhered to, respecting the priority of the preservation of a favourable environment, biological diversity, management and reproduction of natural resources.
Based on this provision, a number of federal laws and regulations provide a mechanism for implementing the principle of conservation of biological diversity. Thus, for example, the federal law of 24 April 1995 "On animal world" plays the most important role in the implementation of this principle; article 2 of the federal law of 14 March 1995 "On specially protected natural territories" states the need to ensure the conservation of biological diversity creating protected territories; article 1 of the Forest Code states that forest legislation is based, inter alia, on the principle of sustainable forest management, the conservation of biological diversity of forests, increasing their potential for sustainable development and the protection of the environment; article 3 of the federal law of 24 June 1998 "On waste from production and consumption" defines, among the basic principles of public waste policy, the principle of protecting health, maintaining or restoring a favourable environment and preserving biological diversity, etc.
It should be noted that it is traditionally believed that Russian environmental law is divided into two main components. First, it is a general part, establishing general requirements for commercial entities. The second component is a special part which concerns to the use and conservation of land, waters, subsoil, forests and other plants, the atmosphere, fauna and the continental shelf, in other words, individual components of the environment.
It can therefore be concluded that Russian environmental law does not consider biological diversity as an object of environmental protection, although the conservation of biological diversity is a fundamental principle. Its implementation is carried out separately for each component of biodiversity and the rules are incorporated into legislation on specially protected natural areas, on the protection and use of wild fauna (so-called wildlife law), forestry law, etc.