Russia and International Law

Abstrakt

The starting point of the article is Lauri Mälksoo’s recent book ‘Russian Approaches to International Law’. He focuses on Russia before and after the period of the Soviet Union. mälksoo knows his theme extremely well and discusses both the scholarship and State practice. Regarding the period of the Russian Federation, the Author of the article picks up his understanding of ‘progressive’ and ‘conservative’ in russian thinking – in human rights law, in economic law, and regarding the use of armed forces – and disagrees with him to some extent. Unlike mälksoo’s book, this article also comments on the position of international law in the foreign policy of the Soviet Union and divides its 70 years – together with the russian Federation’s 25 years – into six different periods. The Author then leaves Mälksoo and focuses on international law in the foreign policy of the Federation during this decade, including the full U-turn of the leading russian experts to support the illegal russian annexation of Crimea. The latest cause for concern comes from the russian-led international Collective Security Treaty organization (CSTo – having six members), where, according to the new Collective Security Strategy, the parties agree to take joint action to prevent any ‘color revolutions’ like the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, where the people challenged the corrupt President. None of the members of the CSTO are democratic.