The historical aspect of the formation and development of operational investigative activities in Russia: tasks, grounds and means

The purpose of the article is to perform a historical analysis of the formation and development of operational investigative activities in Russia in order to disclose its tasks, the grounds for implementation and the means used. The author conducted a study of methods and means of legal regulation of operational investigative activities in the following periods: 1) investigation during the period of the 9th-17th centuries; 2) the process of formation of the detective work in the era of Peter the Great; 3) the development of investigative activities during the reforms of the 19th-20th centuries; 4) the revolution and the Soviet period 1917-1991; 5) the modern stage of operational investigative activities development. The author's historical analysis of the formation and development of modern operational investigative activities prototype in Russia testifies to its complexity and often inconsistency. The evolution of this activity reflects not only the transformation of the nature of crime, but also the changing dynamics of Russian society and government.