Genocide in the Service of the Empire – Ideological Legal Background and Criminal Practice of the Kremlin. Reflections on the Basis of Lauri Mälksoo’s Book: Russian Approaches to International Law

Abstract

This study deals with the attitude of the Russian Federation – a state that possesses legal status of the continuator of the Soviet Union - to the system of international law and the obligations arising from it, in particular with regard to the crime of genocide, in historical and contemporary terms. In the aftermath of the dissolution of the USSR, Russia did not reckon with Soviet crimes. On the contrary, the undertaken endeavors of normative and non-normative rehabilitation of the Soviet period, as well as the aggressive war against Ukraine conducted by the Kremlin since 2014, increased the culture of impunity in the Russian Federation. This still-observed process is taking place with the Kremlin’s simultaneous and constant reference to distorted legal concepts rooted in international law, including the crime of genocide, for the purpose of justification of its criminal activities carried out especially against the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. In order to emphasize the ideological theoretical background of the discussed issue and inter-related problem of the Kremlin’s genocidal practices, this study refers to Lauri Mälksoo’s book: Russian Approaches to International Law (Oxford 2015) (O osobliwościach rosyjskiego stosunku do prawa międzynarodowego [Warszawa 2022]).