What is the contribution of international law in view of Russia’s war of aggression? In the simplest terms, international law provides a framework for addressing and analyzing war-time actions. It aids us in determining which actions are deemed lawful or unlawful, not just intuitively, but on the basis of generally recognized rules. But international law has come face-to-face with considerable challenges in light of the all-out war on Ukraine, both factually and in its normative authority.

That is why discussions about the appropriate response to the invasion of Ukraine are a recurring topic in the field of international law. Economic sanctions and arms deliveries to support Ukraine in the exercise of its right to self-defense are permitted under international law. However, when it comes to innovative proposals to seize the Russian central bank’s assets to rebuild Ukraine or to establish a special tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression, for example, we have to balance what can be considered a both permissible and commensurate response to the Russian war of aggression in terms of international law, and what effects initiatives of this nature would have on the overall system.

International law is constantly evolving as a result of new agreements as well as its practice, which can lead to the further development of customary international law. In spite of widespread condemnation of the Russian invasion, the international community remains somewhat more divided on this issue than many of us in the West would like. An objective of German and European international law policy should be to take a clear stand against Russia’s war of aggression as well as to act in such a way in the future that accusations of double standards leveled against the West are harder to make.

The original article was published in the recent Tagesspiegel supplement. You can read it here in German.