- 14 Dec 2020 19:21
#15143249
International law is one of the most difficult sciences to interpret. The whole problem is that countries participating in international relations can't or don't wich to fully comply with the agreements that they have signed and ratified. This is due to various geopolitical aspects. Countries want more, they always wish to remain winners, to be on top. No concessions to their own detriment are on the table. Geopolitics is on international agenda today like never before. The European Union, which has created a very strong global counterbalance, and its member states have their own problems to address at many levels, but the main thing that these players lack unity in their perceptions. And the problem is not an internal EU issue – it lays beyond its borders. In recent years, Russia has worked hard to destroy unity that the EU and its predecessors had been building for over 60 years.
Russians interpret international law in its own way – the one that benefits them. And the problem is not only about many countries doing the same, the problem is that Russia never admits its mistakes and stands its ground. This may be a positive thing in some areas, but not in international politics. After all, you can't address any issue with armed aggression and intimidation. Unfortunately, this is something of which Russia is unaware.
A living example is the Russian ambassador to Austria. Despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Paris Agreements on Donbas settlement, the Russian envoy in Vienna appears to be very selective on which clauses of the deal the Kremlin should comply with and which ones should be forgotten and not ever mentioned. The traditional practice of Soviet, and now Russian, diplomacy is that instead of fulfilling obligations, they'd rather pursue endless talks, accusing other parties of the treaties, in this case Ukraine, of violations that in fact come on Russia's part. According to the so-called Steinmeier Formula, everything is simple and understandable, and, while representatives of Ukraine, Germany, and France have a common firm position on settlement, the Kremlin has a different goal and other plans for the Normandy Four summit.
The Russian Federation has repeatedly "successfully fulfilled" the obligations imposed on it by the UN Charter, including in relation to Ukraine. An example is the ongoing conflicts around the globe (including frozen ones): Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Instead of ceasing the bloodshed, Russia vetoes the most important UN Security Council resolutions, exploiting its status in the United Nations, thereby jeopardizing credibility and ability of the entire Security Council to carry the most important burden – ensure international peace and security. If the "pacta sunt servanda" principle is something not suitable for Russia, there is always a way out for this country – like vacating the seat of a permanent member of the UN Security Council, allowing it to be taken by some worthy country that will fulfill its obligations, instead of covering up own crimes.
Over the last decade, the Russian Federation has proven to be an unreliable international partner. Russian leadership constantly violates resolutions and declarations adopted by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council, as well as OSCE documents, other interstate agreements and international treaties, which each country must fulfill responsibly and in good faith. But instead of settling the existing issues, Russian officials keep frantically accusing others, shifting blame off themselves. The most important resolutions of the UN Security Council on the war in Libya and Syria, the settlement of the dispute over the attempted annexation of Crimea, and the MH17 downing probe were vetoed by the same permanent member of the Security Council, the Russian Federation, which not only neglects its status, but also puts the lives of millions of peaceful people at stake.
The UN has repeatedly recognized the fact of Russia's attempted annexation of Crimea. There are seven UN General Assembly resolutions: one on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, four on violations of human rights, and two on the militarization of the peninsula. Russia's actions violate the norms of the UN Charter, the 4th Geneva Convention, and a number of other international acts. In addition, Russia's behavior corresponds to the definition of aggression adopted by UNGA Resolution No 3314 of December 14, 1974, not only in relation to Crimea, but also to Donbas.
The European Parliament adopted resolutions noting that sanctions against the Russian Federation should remain in place until Moscow fulfills all conditions enshrined in the Minsk agreements and withdraws its troops from Ukraine.
The Russian Federation has repeatedly been noted for waging information wars employing elements of disinformation, as is in this case involving the ambassador. The European Commission intends to impose more sanctions on Russia as a country spreading disinformation. The European Democracy Action Plan states that EU members should more systematically apply and further develop the full range of instruments from their toolkit to counter foreign interference and influence operations, including by imposing restrictive measures on such operations' masterminds. Precisely this response will prove that the words of the Russian ambassador to Austria are yet another disinformation stunt. Since early 2015, the monitoring mission of the European External Action Service has recorded over 10,000 instances of pro-Kremlin disinformation.
Instead of ensuring that the next summit is held as soon as possible, Russian presidential adviser Dmitry Kozak constantly postpones meetings of leaders' advisors, which hinders the entire decision-making process that would help stop the bloodshed and allow Ukraine regaining control of Donbas. The Russian delegation, Dmitry Kozak in particular, often resorts to dragging out the lowest-level meeting envisaged by the Normandy format – that of presidential advisers. To this end, Russians use formal insignificant issues questions that only Russians consider "very important". The pretext for the postponement is the lack of coordination of draft final documents with the Russian side. Kozak is well aware that until advisers succeed in their consultations, there will be no summit of Normandy Four leaders.
At one time, Vladislav Surkov, who once supervised "Russia's Ukraine policies, found himself in an awkward situation during the December 2019 summit. The documents put up for signing by leaders hadn't been properly agreed upon at preliminary meetings of presidential advisers, so Vladimir Putin was simply at a loss as to what he was asked to sign. Having learned on his predecessor's mistakes, Kozak demands to see all drafts in advance. Accordingly, Russians delay by at least half a year the issues that can be settled in two to three months, which in no way helps to effectively resolve the Donbas problem.
Besides, Russia is constantly trying to shift onto the other party own responsibility for disrupting negotiations. Dmitry Kozak constantly emphasizes the alleged lack of progress toward conflict settlement, complaining that he has no one to talk to within the Normandy format, thereby disrupting the negotiation process and dragging it out for months. He also demands that Ukraine amend its Constitution and grant certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions a special status, threatening to withdraw the Russian delegation from talks if his ultimatum is not fulfilled. That is, everything Russia does within the Normandy format is destructive, done with the aim of disrupting and compromising the format as such. Accordingly, Moscow clearly demonstrates its true goals in relation to resolving the very problem of the Ukrainian Donbas. After the recent farcical "zeroing" of Vladimir Putin's presidential terms' count, Russia has as much time as needed to just keep waiting out.
As for the exchange of prisoners the ambassador has mentioned, there is no such concept, mentioned by the diplomat, as "partially unfulfilled". A condition of this nature is either met or not. If the exchange did take place, and Mr. Lyublinsky doesn't deny it, then the conditions of the exchange were met, so anything beyond this is pure exaggeration on the part of the ambassador.
The aspects outlined above once again prove that a country that doesn't comply with international law can't go around imposing rules on other countries and, therefore, sit on the UN Security Council. Russia's barbaric ways in the EU, especially in the Czech Republic, where Russian intelligence services are relatively active without feeling any threat to themselves, have nothing to do with the civilized world. Although Russia sees the Czech Republic as the most attractive country in the EU, we still remember 1968, and the intervention of your troops can't be easily erased from our memory. Czechs respect Russians, while having no respect for their leadership, despite the fact that President Zeman Russia's close ally. Zeman, however, does not represent the entire Czech Republic, while Putin doesn't represent Russia. Even so, the Russian Federation today remains a threat of which we all must be aware.
Authored by Mgr. Josef Kroupa
Source: aktualnezpravodajstvi.cz
Russians interpret international law in its own way – the one that benefits them. And the problem is not only about many countries doing the same, the problem is that Russia never admits its mistakes and stands its ground. This may be a positive thing in some areas, but not in international politics. After all, you can't address any issue with armed aggression and intimidation. Unfortunately, this is something of which Russia is unaware.
A living example is the Russian ambassador to Austria. Despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Paris Agreements on Donbas settlement, the Russian envoy in Vienna appears to be very selective on which clauses of the deal the Kremlin should comply with and which ones should be forgotten and not ever mentioned. The traditional practice of Soviet, and now Russian, diplomacy is that instead of fulfilling obligations, they'd rather pursue endless talks, accusing other parties of the treaties, in this case Ukraine, of violations that in fact come on Russia's part. According to the so-called Steinmeier Formula, everything is simple and understandable, and, while representatives of Ukraine, Germany, and France have a common firm position on settlement, the Kremlin has a different goal and other plans for the Normandy Four summit.
The Russian Federation has repeatedly "successfully fulfilled" the obligations imposed on it by the UN Charter, including in relation to Ukraine. An example is the ongoing conflicts around the globe (including frozen ones): Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Instead of ceasing the bloodshed, Russia vetoes the most important UN Security Council resolutions, exploiting its status in the United Nations, thereby jeopardizing credibility and ability of the entire Security Council to carry the most important burden – ensure international peace and security. If the "pacta sunt servanda" principle is something not suitable for Russia, there is always a way out for this country – like vacating the seat of a permanent member of the UN Security Council, allowing it to be taken by some worthy country that will fulfill its obligations, instead of covering up own crimes.
Over the last decade, the Russian Federation has proven to be an unreliable international partner. Russian leadership constantly violates resolutions and declarations adopted by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council, as well as OSCE documents, other interstate agreements and international treaties, which each country must fulfill responsibly and in good faith. But instead of settling the existing issues, Russian officials keep frantically accusing others, shifting blame off themselves. The most important resolutions of the UN Security Council on the war in Libya and Syria, the settlement of the dispute over the attempted annexation of Crimea, and the MH17 downing probe were vetoed by the same permanent member of the Security Council, the Russian Federation, which not only neglects its status, but also puts the lives of millions of peaceful people at stake.
The UN has repeatedly recognized the fact of Russia's attempted annexation of Crimea. There are seven UN General Assembly resolutions: one on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, four on violations of human rights, and two on the militarization of the peninsula. Russia's actions violate the norms of the UN Charter, the 4th Geneva Convention, and a number of other international acts. In addition, Russia's behavior corresponds to the definition of aggression adopted by UNGA Resolution No 3314 of December 14, 1974, not only in relation to Crimea, but also to Donbas.
The European Parliament adopted resolutions noting that sanctions against the Russian Federation should remain in place until Moscow fulfills all conditions enshrined in the Minsk agreements and withdraws its troops from Ukraine.
The Russian Federation has repeatedly been noted for waging information wars employing elements of disinformation, as is in this case involving the ambassador. The European Commission intends to impose more sanctions on Russia as a country spreading disinformation. The European Democracy Action Plan states that EU members should more systematically apply and further develop the full range of instruments from their toolkit to counter foreign interference and influence operations, including by imposing restrictive measures on such operations' masterminds. Precisely this response will prove that the words of the Russian ambassador to Austria are yet another disinformation stunt. Since early 2015, the monitoring mission of the European External Action Service has recorded over 10,000 instances of pro-Kremlin disinformation.
Instead of ensuring that the next summit is held as soon as possible, Russian presidential adviser Dmitry Kozak constantly postpones meetings of leaders' advisors, which hinders the entire decision-making process that would help stop the bloodshed and allow Ukraine regaining control of Donbas. The Russian delegation, Dmitry Kozak in particular, often resorts to dragging out the lowest-level meeting envisaged by the Normandy format – that of presidential advisers. To this end, Russians use formal insignificant issues questions that only Russians consider "very important". The pretext for the postponement is the lack of coordination of draft final documents with the Russian side. Kozak is well aware that until advisers succeed in their consultations, there will be no summit of Normandy Four leaders.
At one time, Vladislav Surkov, who once supervised "Russia's Ukraine policies, found himself in an awkward situation during the December 2019 summit. The documents put up for signing by leaders hadn't been properly agreed upon at preliminary meetings of presidential advisers, so Vladimir Putin was simply at a loss as to what he was asked to sign. Having learned on his predecessor's mistakes, Kozak demands to see all drafts in advance. Accordingly, Russians delay by at least half a year the issues that can be settled in two to three months, which in no way helps to effectively resolve the Donbas problem.
Besides, Russia is constantly trying to shift onto the other party own responsibility for disrupting negotiations. Dmitry Kozak constantly emphasizes the alleged lack of progress toward conflict settlement, complaining that he has no one to talk to within the Normandy format, thereby disrupting the negotiation process and dragging it out for months. He also demands that Ukraine amend its Constitution and grant certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions a special status, threatening to withdraw the Russian delegation from talks if his ultimatum is not fulfilled. That is, everything Russia does within the Normandy format is destructive, done with the aim of disrupting and compromising the format as such. Accordingly, Moscow clearly demonstrates its true goals in relation to resolving the very problem of the Ukrainian Donbas. After the recent farcical "zeroing" of Vladimir Putin's presidential terms' count, Russia has as much time as needed to just keep waiting out.
As for the exchange of prisoners the ambassador has mentioned, there is no such concept, mentioned by the diplomat, as "partially unfulfilled". A condition of this nature is either met or not. If the exchange did take place, and Mr. Lyublinsky doesn't deny it, then the conditions of the exchange were met, so anything beyond this is pure exaggeration on the part of the ambassador.
The aspects outlined above once again prove that a country that doesn't comply with international law can't go around imposing rules on other countries and, therefore, sit on the UN Security Council. Russia's barbaric ways in the EU, especially in the Czech Republic, where Russian intelligence services are relatively active without feeling any threat to themselves, have nothing to do with the civilized world. Although Russia sees the Czech Republic as the most attractive country in the EU, we still remember 1968, and the intervention of your troops can't be easily erased from our memory. Czechs respect Russians, while having no respect for their leadership, despite the fact that President Zeman Russia's close ally. Zeman, however, does not represent the entire Czech Republic, while Putin doesn't represent Russia. Even so, the Russian Federation today remains a threat of which we all must be aware.
Authored by Mgr. Josef Kroupa
Source: aktualnezpravodajstvi.cz
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