Abstract
In the recent history of the world, especially in the last two decades, large-scale military actions by Russia and Russian intervention have attracted wide international attention. Russia's increasingly confrontational stance has been manifested in military interventions in Georgia (2008) and in Ukraine (2014). The occupation/annexation of the territories of Georgia and Ukraine by the Russian Federation is a gross violation of the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of a country, as well as of the norms and principles of international law, that have significantly changed the international order established between the states and called into question the security of the Black Sea region and Europe as a whole. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a legal analysis of Russia's aggressive policy and the economic consequences of Ukraine and Georgia as aggrieved parties.
TopPrerequisites Of Russian Intervention
In nearly three decades of independence, Ukraine and Georgia have sought to forge their paths as sovereign states while looking to align more closely with Western institutions, including the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The aspiration of Georgia and Ukraine for Euro-Atlantic integration and adherence to Western values has been a serious reason for discontent for Russia. Hereof it has been trying with various levers to discredit the course chosen by these states.
The turning point in relations between Russia and the West was the 2007 Munich Security Conference, at which Russia voiced its perceived threats. In particular, Putin stressed that although democracy needs support and assistance, if we continue the path of endless revolutions, this will be useful neither for countries nor for their people. The entire post-Soviet space will be immersed in endless conflicts, and we will get tragic results. At the Munich conference, it became clear how dangerous the Russian Federation perceives current events in its immediate neighborhood or the so-called post-Soviet space.
Further in 2008, at the NATO summit in Bucharest, NATO member states agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would become alliance members. Putin saw NATO's eastward expansion as a serious threat to national security, which led to an armed conflict with Georgia.
In response to this, in August 2008, the armed conflict between Russia and Georgia broke out on the territory of Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Russian-planned military campaign lasted 5 days until the parties reached a preliminary ceasefire agreement on August 12. The European Union (EU), led by the French presidency, mediated the ceasefire. After signing the agreement, Russia pulled most of its troops out of uncontested Georgian territories but established buffer zones around Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On August 26, 2008, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, making them a part of what President Dmitry Medvedev called Moscow’s “zone of privileged interests,” and since then deployed five military bases on occupied Georgian territory (Cohen & Hamilton, 2011).
Six years later in another ex-Soviet country, Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine. Europe and the United States, which had reacted cautiously to the Russia-Georgia war, this time vehemently condemned Moscow’s actions and went on to impose harsh economic sanctions on Russia. Both in Georgia and Ukraine, Moscow aimed to stop its neighbors from shifting towards NATO by any means. This is an unthinkable prospect for Russia, which since the fall of the Soviet Union has increasingly condemned NATO's willingness to expand its borders. In the authors' view, Russia's war against Georgia was the “first attempt” to shape the Kremlin's future policy. “If it was not for the operation in South Ossetia, the annexation of Crimea could not have happened. In South Ossetia, Russia taught the ex-Soviet countries a lesson. It showed them that there was no way they could adopt a different model of development (Euractiv, 2018).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Association Agreement: A legally binding agreement between the EU and third countries. It is one of three special types of international agreements. It is aimed to foster close relationships between the EU and countries on a wide range of topics.
United Nations: An international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, and promoting social progress, better living standards, and human rights.
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe: A comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It, therefore, addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counterterrorism, and economic and environmental activities.
Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas: Part of Association Agreements that have been signed between the European Union and Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The main intention of DCFTA agreements is to create preferential trade relationships, based on mutually advantageous treatment, giving each other better access to their markets than that offered to other trade partners. DCFTA agreements cover a range of topics like lifting technical trade barriers, reducing tariffs, quotas for the trade, approximation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, securing intellectual property rights, ensuring fair competition, transparent public procurement also other issues to align rules of operation for businesses in trade partner countries.
European Court of Human Rights: A regional human rights judicial body based in Strasbourg, France, created under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The Court began operating in 1959 and has delivered more than 10,000 judgments regarding alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: The first multilateral free trade agreement first took effect in 1948 as an agreement between 23 countries, and it remained in effect until 1995. It was replaced by the World Trade Organization.
European Union: An international organization comprising 27 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies. Originally confined to western Europe, the EU undertook a robust expansion into central and eastern Europe in the early 21st century.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: An intergovernmental military alliance to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.
Internally Displaced Persons: Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border.