The Russian Aggression against Ukraine – Putin and His ‘Legality Claims’

Abstract

Trying to reconcile the commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law with the ongoing brutal Russian invasion into Ukraine since 24 February 2022, this contribution will attempt to analyse the impact of the various claims put forward by President Vladimir Putin as to the ‘legality’ of the Russian aggression on the ius contra bellum regime as enshrined in the UN Charter. To this end, the authors will, first, sketch the distorted pseudohistorical narrative purported by Putin which gives his ‘legality claims’ context. Second, this contribution will take Putin’s ‘legality claims’ deliberately at face value in order to subject them to a legal assessment. In doing so, the authors attempt to demonstrate that the plentiful doctrinal controversies still permeating the discourse on the ius contra bellum regime have little bearing on the (in)validity of the proposed justifications. Third, the authors will address what is at stake for the modern international order based on the UN Charter in face of the blatantly illegal use of force on the part of Russia against Ukraine.