International Legal Aspects of the Russian Annexation of the Crimean Peninsula

Abstract

This paper deals with a detailed assessment of the legality of the Russian military action on the Crimea in year 2014 which is generally considered as an aggression. The author does not want to challenge this view; rather he attempts to offer a detailed analysis of several explicit or implicit justifications put forward by Russia. First of all, he sets a legal framework for analysis, then identifies relevant legal aspects concerning the so-called Crimean question (i.e. protection of the Russian minority, remedial secession, intervention by invitation, self-determination, regional referendum) and, finally, provides a detailed analysis of each of them from the international and the national points of view. In the paper, he pays attention also to the international debates concerning the Crimea which took place predominantly at the United Nations Security Council and, to lesser extent, at the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Keywords

• international public law
• the united nations organization
• the united nations security council
• charter of the united nations
• annexation
• aggression
• legality
• use of force
• the crimea
• the russian federation
• ukraine