Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 29 – According to the terms of a new law just approved by the Duma and signed into law by Vladimir Putin, Moscow no longer feels itself obliged to obey any decision of an international court not established with the approval of the United Nations Security Council where the Russian Federation as a permanent member has a veto.
The new law (publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202512290002) gives legal format to what had become Russian practice and means that Moscow will no longer obey the orders of the International Criminal Court or the findings of any tribunal set up to examine Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
That Moscow should do so is no surprise – it was highly offended when the ICC ordered Putin’s detention and trial earlier – but it represents yet another step by Moscow to remove itself from the international legal order that had been coming into being in the last several decades and provides cover for other governments that don’t like such international supervision.
Thus, what may appear to be a small step, in fact is a giant leap toward undermining the international legal order that had emerged and throws the world back to one where the reconstitution of this order anytime soon will be difficult if not impossible, something that will further untie the hands of dictators and other authoritarians.
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