YASALLIK VE MEŞRUİYET İKİLEMİ AÇISINDAN RUSYA’NIN UKRAYNA MÜDAHALESİ

Abstract

On 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, announced to the world that a "military operation" would be carried out against Ukraine upon the call of the Donbas republics, which he had decided to recognise on 21 February officially. The military operation that started afterwards has created great debates not only in terms of international politics but also in terms of international law. In his speech, Putin referred to the legality and legitimacy discourses that Western States, particularly the United States, have been using in various military operations since the end of the Cold War and used them for Russia's operations. In this Article, regarding Putin's statements, Russia's justifications for the military operation are analysed in the context of the relationship between legality and legitimacy, which is one of the ancient issues of legal philosophy. The main argument of the study is that due to the non-objective nature of international law, each sovereign can find the legal arguments that will suit its interests among the sources of international law and legitimise its actions within this legal discourse. The result is that international law will favour political power among equal rights.