Addressing russian aggression against ukraine: the imperative for a special tribunal under international and ukrainian legal framework

Abstract

Historically, the principle of individual criminal responsibility was shaped under international law in the aftermath of the Second World War by the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal. For the municipal systems governed by the member states, the incentive to support the principle of international criminal responsibility was to end the impunity for the most severe crimes of common concern committed on the territories of the member states. In this context, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the illegal invasion on the pretext of genocide have resulted in a violation of the UN Charter system on the use of force under Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter (Schrijver, 2015). However, different justifications are being cited that are either against or supporting the Russian invasion. On the one hand, the alleged violation by the US and NATO of the Russia-NATO Foundation Act, signed in 1997 that limits the NATO expansion to Germany, is being cited as the reason that has triggered the current invasion by Russia. (Reis and Grzybowski, 2023:1-23) On the other hand, the countries in the West believe that it is a Russian attempt to establish a new sphere of influence in their neighbour (Kuzio, 2018:462-473).