International Law of Belligerencies. (I.I. Kotlyarov, «International Humanitarian Law», Moscow, Yurlitinform, 2006. - 304 pp.)

Abstract

A practical significance of the book under review is beyond any doubt because the most recent publication on the subject in the question dates back to 1989. Social and political upheavals have taken place since then, such as the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty Organization and the collapse of the USSR. International and domestic belligerencies have, unfortunately, become facts of the international life in the post-Soviet area. That made international humanitarian law called for nowadays.The Russian Federation is a party to all agreements relating to international humanitarian law and containing commitments made by the Russian Federation to conduct training and dissemination of knowledge about it in peaceful time and during open military conflicts. The book is written in a simple and easily understandable language and this is its advantage. The author critically discusses doctrine based views on international humanitarian law and offers ways to improve a number of international legal instruments and Russian legislation. The integrity of the book adds to evoking a theoretical and practical interest in it. The book considers issues of international humanitarian law in a consistent and comprehensive way.All this makes I.I. Kotlyarov’s book a useful support material for studying international humanitarian law at military and civil educational establishments as well as for training commanders of the RF military forces in general public administration courses.Finally, the author makes interesting conclusions, pointing out, for example, that Russia’s state bodies paid by far more attention to war laws and customs in the pre-revolutionary times than nowadays. Our state’s contributions to developing and shaping up international humanitarian law became more significant with the advent of F.F. Martens who was an initiator and author of the first conventions on war laws and customs. Russia’s involvement in further development of international humanitarian law was steadily increasing until 1918. Later, after the Soviet Union was established, its participation in agreements relating to international humanitarian law still continued, but practical steps aimed at introducing its norms in public conscience and practice were not taken.