REVISITING THE ISSUE ON THE EXTRATERRITORIAL EFFECT OF THE RUSSIAN LAW AND THE INTERNATIONAL LAW

Abstract

The article covers the issue of specific breaches of international law provisions owed to Ukraine by Russia. The article also examines problems in the application of international law by Russia. In the course of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the former is carrying out the military occupation of the Crimean peninsula and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and prosecutes Ukrainian citizens (Nadiya Savchenko, Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Hennadii Afanasyev, Yurii Soloshenko and others) in violation of international law. Both Russian executives and doctrine attempt to substantiate the cases against Ukrainian citizens, however, their arguments suffer both legal and factual problems. An illustrative in this regard is Savchenko’s case, which has become important Russian propaganda tool to help reinforce the accusations of the “atrocities committed by the Kyiv junta”. The analyses shows that Savchenko case could have been used to complete different tasks – starting from lifting the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation and finishing with increasing the number of Russian volunteers in the war against Ukraine. Also, Russia has prosecuted Oleh Sentsov who has been charged with creating a terrorist group and committing two acts of terrorism. One of the most untenable legal arguments of the Russian Federation is a qualification of the aggression as a non-international armed conflict. In this regard, Russian authorities and doctrine insist on Russia’s not being bound or entitled to apply the rules of international armed conflicts laid down in the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (III) to Savchenko. At the same time, a considerable amount of data speaks for an aggressive war the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched against Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Russian Federation has also grossly violated the norms of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.