Criminal threats to the agricultural sector of Ukraine under martial law and their impact on the economic security of the state

Abstract

The article examines criminogenic threats to the agricultural sector of Ukraine under martial law and their negative impact on the economic security of the state, since destructive processes in the agricultural sphere associated with unlawful encroachments not only on land, crops, machinery, fuel, and property rights, but also on financial resources and the results of economic activity, extend beyond the harm caused to an individual agricultural producer and violate the economic interests of the state as a whole. The authors focus on the criminological understanding of such threats, which in the agricultural sector manifest themselves not only in the form of already committed criminal offenses, but also as a set of negative wartime, legal, socio-economic, and organizational-managerial factors that create a favorable environment for unlawful activity.

The content of criminogenic threats to the agricultural sector is revealed through the combination of two interrelated components: conditions that create a favorable environment for unlawful activity and specific forms of its manifestation. The factors that determine the systemic, recurrent, and widespread nature of such threats in different regions of the country include corruption, in particular abuses in the field of land relations committed by officials of local self-government bodies and supervisory authorities, as well as within registration and licensing procedures; the shadowing of lease, tax, and financial relations; inactivity of law enforcement agencies; and the insufficient level of protection of farmers and agricultural enterprises from criminal encroachments. The main criminally unlawful forms of manifestation of such threats include fraudulent schemes in the circulation of agricultural products, raider takeovers, misappropriation, embezzlement, and seizure of crops, machinery, fuel, fertilizers, and other property through abuse of official position, illegal land transactions, concealment of actual lease payments for land plots, corrupt practices, and financial fraud. It is shown that such manifestations are interregional in nature and cause not only direct property losses, but also negative consequences for the economic security of the state, manifested in the weakening of food stability, a decline in the investment attractiveness of the agricultural sector, a reduction in production and export capacity, the shadowing of the agricultural market, a decrease in tax revenues, and the erosion of trust in state institutions.