International Law and the 2020 Amendments to the Russian Constitution

2021 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-93
Author(s):  
Lauri Mälksoo
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Current Development ◽  
Constitutional Amendments ◽  
International Courts ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Russian Constitution ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
State Succession

AbstractThis Current Development Essay discusses the international legal implications of constitutional amendments adopted in the Russian Federation by an “all-Russian vote,” a quasi-referendum from June 25 to July 1, 2020. The most important of these amendments gives the Russian Constitution priority over decisions made by international courts and treaty bodies. The amendments also address Russia's state succession to the Soviet Union. Another provision protects Russia's territorial integrity. The Essay discusses the background to these amendments, their content, and their significance for international law.

The challenges for Central Europe posed by the rivalry of the Russian Federation below the threshold of war

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-26
Author(s):  
Mirosław Banasik
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Main Emphasis ◽  
The Russian Federation

This article identifies the political challenges for Central Europe resulting from the Russian Federation conducting competition below the threshold of war. The main research methods, both inductive and deductive, were analysis and a survey of the existing literature. There is still aggression in international rivalry, and its level is deliberately regulated so as not to cross the threshold of open armed conflict as defined by international law. The contemporary rivalry of the Russian Federation takes on an unlimited scope and goes beyond the physical sphere: the main emphasis in its application is on non-military and non-lethal forms of influence that can be easily combined with kinetic ones. The exploitation of the space between the binary borders of war and peace was practically verified both under the Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. It has been confirmed that a great deal of importance in Russia is now attached to unconventional activities and that their application offers great opportunities to achieve strategic objectives without the need to resort to direct military confrontation.

6 Treaties of Subjects of the Russian Federation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Butler William E
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Community Building ◽  
State Building ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Vast Territory

This chapter looks at how the "treaty" operates as a source of law, both domestic, international, and/or community, in ways that are not traditionally articulated in the classic expositions of sources of law. It considers how, historically, Russia's state-building or community-building enterprises have been bound up in the use of treaties to forge a sense of unity across its vast territory and among its myriad ethnic groups. The Soviet Union itself was a treaty-based federation, or confederation. Furthermore, the treaty is among the key instruments on which the Russian Federation rests, and underlying the treaty relations are principles of statehood, legal personality, autonomy, independence, dependence, and others which some view as constitutional questions and others as matters of international law. Movements in the direction of Eurasian integration presently underway (or not) reflect similar considerations. The treaty is the key vehicle.

Sowieckie ludobójstwo i prawo międzynarodowe. Litewskie zmagania ze zbrodniami ZSRS w świetle orzeczenia Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka w sprawie Drelingas

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-258
Author(s):  
Tomasz Lachowski
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Resistance Movement

The aim of the paper is to analyze the endeavors undertaken by the authorities of independent Lithuania to deal with the crimes committed by the Soviet Union against Lithuanian society, in particular against representatives of the anti-Soviet resistance movement, by using the notion of crime of genocide rooted in international law. The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Drelingas v. Lithuania of 12 March 2019, which approved the legality of the qualification of “ethno-national-political” genocide of “forest brethren” committed by the Soviet occupation authorities, was one of the key elements confirming the Lithuanian policy in this regard. This ruling reopens the discussion on the possibility of trying the crimes of the Soviet Union, at the same time raising certain legal and political doubts – as generally expressed by the Russian Federation.

The development of trade relations between the Republic of Cyprus and the Soviet Union (1960-1963)

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-3) ◽  
pp. 258-263
Author(s):  
Argyrios Tasoulas
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
International Crises ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Republic Of Cyprus

This article studies the development of Soviet-Cypriot trade relations in 1960-63, based on research at the Archives of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVP RF). Concurrently, a historical analysis follows the events after the creation of the new Cypriot state and the two major Cold War crises (the building of the Berlin wall and the Cuban missile crisis). The efforts made by both governments to develop bilateral trade, the aftermath of the two major international crises and the results of the two governments’ policies have been identified and analyzed.

Condition of the Armenian Apostolic Church at the Time of Coming to Authority N. S. Khrushchev

2020 ◽  
pp. 245-265
Author(s):  
Арсен Артурович Григорян
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
National Archive ◽  
The State ◽  
State Archive ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Apostolic Church

Цель данной статьи - описать условия, в которых Армянская Апостольская Церковь вступила в эпоху правления Н. С. Хрущёва, начавшуюся в 1953 г. По содержанию статью можно поделить на две части: в первой даются сведения о количестве приходов на территории Советского Союза и за его пределами, а также о составе армянского духовенства в СССР; во второй излагаются проблемы, существовавшие внутри Армянской Церкви, и рассматриваются их причины. Методы исследования - описание и анализ. Ценность исследования заключается в использовании ранее неопубликованных документов Государственного архива Российской Федерации и Национального архива Армении. По итогам изучения фактического материала выделяются основные проблемы Армянской Апостольской Церкви на 1953 г.: финансовый дефицит, конфликт армянских католикосатов и стремление враждующих СССР и США использовать церковь в своих политических целях. The purpose of this article is to describe the conditions in which the Armenian Apostolic Church entered the epoch of the reign of N. S. Khrushchev, which began in 1953. The article can be divided into two parts: first one gives information about the number of parishes in the territory of the Soviet Union and beyond, and about the structure of the Armenian clergy in the USSR; the second one sets out the problems that existed in the Armenian Church and discusses their causes. Research methods - description and analysis. The value of the study lies in the use of previously unpublished documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the National Archive of Armenia. Based on the results of studying the materials, the main problems of the Armenian Apostolic Church in 1953 are: financial deficit, the conflict of Armenian Catholicosates and the eagerness of USSR and the USA, that feuded with each other, to use the Сhurch for their political purposes.

Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-413
Author(s):  
Rizal Abdul Kadir
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The United Nations

After twenty-two years of negotiations, in Aktau on August 12, 2018, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. The preamble of the Convention stipulates, among other things, that the Convention, made up of twenty-four articles, was agreed on by the five states based on principles and norms of the Charter of the United Nations and International Law. The enclosed Caspian Sea is bordered by Iran, Russia, and three states that were established following dissolution of the Soviet Union, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.

Security Council

1963 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-230
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Security Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
States Government

The Security Council discussed this question at its 1022nd–1025th meetings, on October 23–25, 1962. It had before it a letter dated October 22, 1962, from the permanent representative of the United States, in which it was stated that the establishment of missile bases in Cuba constituted a grave threat to the peace and security of the world; a letter of the same date from the permanent representative of Cuba, claiming that the United States naval blockade of Cuba constituted an act of war; and a letter also dated October 22 from the deputy permanent representative of the Soviet Union, emphasizing that Soviet assistance to Cuba was exclusively designed to improve Cuba's defensive capacity and that the United States government had committed a provocative act and an unprecedented violation of international law in its blockade.

Gorbachev, ideology, and the fate of Soviet communism

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-474
Author(s):  
R. Judson Mitchell ◽  
Randall S. Arrington
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Democratic Centralism ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
Basic Source ◽  
The Russian Federation

The collapse of the Soviet Union has spurred much scholarly debate about the reasons for the rapid disintegration of this apparently entrenched system. In this article, it is argued that the basic source of ultimate weakness was the obverse of the system’s strengths, especially its form of organization and its relation to Marxist–Leninist ideology. Democratic centralism provided cohesion for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) but also gave inordinate control over ideology to the party leader. Mikhail Gorbachev carried out an ideological revision that undercut the legitimacy of party elites and his restructuring of the system left the party with no clear functional role in the society. The successor party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), has made a surprising comeback for communism, utilizing the Leninist model of party organization, which has proved to be highly effective in the Russian political culture. Furthermore, the CPRF, under party leaders like Gennadi Zyuganov, has avoided Gorbachev’s ideological deviations while attempting to broaden the party’s base through the cultivation of Russian nationalism.

scholarly journals Genesis of establishment and development of the judicial system of the Russian Federation in the late XX – early XXI centuries: institutional and normative characteristics

2021 ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Valentina Mikhailovna Bol'shakova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Russian Federation

The subject of this research is the evolution of the structure of judicial system of the Russian Federation in the late XX – early XXI centuries. Description is given to the changes undergone by the Russian judicial system after dissolution of the Soviet Union. The author follows the dynamics of the normative legal changes that regulate judicial proceedings, as well as reveals the institutional framework of the modern structure of judicial system of the Russian Federation. The article illustrates the institutional and normative changes within the structure of judicial system of the Russian Federation in the late XX – early XXI centuries based on application of the comparative-legal and systemic methods of research. The novelty and the main conclusions lie in the following: it is established that the Russian Federation has issued the normative legal acts that contribute to the strengthening and unification of the Russian judicial system, uniformity of social guarantees and compensations set for judges. Currently, the judicial system of the Russian Federation is founded on the principle of combining administrative-territorial and district organization. It is determined that the judicial system of the Russian Federation consists of 1) the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; 2) the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation; 3) federal courts of general jurisdiction; 4) arbitration courts; 5) magistrates’ courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It is noted that since January 1, 2023, the Constitutional (statutory) courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation will be abolished.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document