Over the past 30 years, the proponents of the Unipolar World have proceeded to methodically dismantle the norms, principles and diplomatic usages to such an extent that contemporary international relations are characterized by social media postings.
First, UN resolutions have been construed to provide a veneer of legality to wars of choice against UN Member-States such as Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen.
These gross violations of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter proceeded out of a deliberate intent to shirk the core principles of the UN, such as respect for national sovereignty and the peaceful resolution of international disputes.
In order to manufacture consent, the West then proceeded to subvert UN mechanisms, such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The OPCW and the IAEA thus produced reports to justify armed intervention while the OSCE abandoned all pretense of neutrality.
Finally, diplomatic processes such as the Minsk Accords and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), (UN Resolutions 2202 and 2231), were devised as schemes to respectively allow Ukraine to build up its armed forces in anticipation of military operations against its own population and deceive the Islamic Republic of Iran into surrendering its sovereign right to enrich uranium in the context of its civilian nuclear program.
International Justice Has Failed
At the level of international institutions tasked with the administration of justice, the Nuremberg Principles have been weaponized against the enemies of the West rather than against those responsible for crimes against peace, thus ignoring Chief Justice Robert Jackson’s warnings made during his opening statement at the first Nuremberg Trial.
In so doing, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has engaged in selective prosecution since its inception.
In Ukraine, the court most notably failed to open an investigation into the actions allegedly carried out in the eastern parts of the country by battalions acting under the control and supervision of Ukraine’s former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
These battalions were eventually integrated into the regular armed forces under the command and control of successive Ukrainian Supreme Commanders-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny and Oleksandr Syrsky. Under their responsibility, scores of Russian civilians were subjected to torture, summary execution and arbitrary detention both in the New Regions and later in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
These two individuals served under post-Maidan presidents Piotr Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky, who both owe Victoria Nuland and former U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Pyatt a debt of gratitude for their rise to power following the 2014 coup d’état.
Another high-profile individual who has visited Kyiv on a regular basis to meet with Ukraine’s all-powerful intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, is former National Security Adviser and Hillary Clinton protege Jake Sullivan.
Like clockwork, Sullivan was in Kyiv a few days prior to the Crocus City Hall bombing on March 22, 2024.
Budanov is currently the subject of an international arrest warrant on account of his alleged participation in a criminal conspiracy leading to the bombing of the Kerch Bridge on October 8, 2022.
Of note, crimes against peace do not entail the use of violence. For example, François Hollande and Angela Merkel, by never intending to fulfill their obligations to serve as guarantors of the defunct Minsk Agreements, contributed to the collapse of the diplomatic track and the advent of armed conflict. Boris Johnson explicity flew to Kyiv to scuttle the adoption of the just-concluded Istanbul agreement at the early stage of the conflict.
Inertia at the ICJ
The momentum generated by the Russian Federation’s filing of a 522-page report bearing on acts allegedly committed by Ukraine against ethnic Russians seemed to have brought the proceedings initiated by Kyiv against Moscow to a grinding halt.
Kyiv, in a curious twist, had predicated the thrust of its argument on the premise that, by falsely justifying its military actions in Ukraine on the existence of a threat of genocide committed by Kyiv, Moscow was in violation of its obligations to abide by the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.
Doubling Down
On May 9, 2025, while Moscow was commemorating with its allies in the Global South the 80th anniversary of its victory against Nazi Germany, the European Union announced in Orwellian fashion that, to mark “Europe Day,” it was proud to announce the creation of its own Special Tribunal.
What’s Next for the Russian Federation?
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has been meticulously documenting violations of the laws of war allegedly carried out by members of the Ukraine military and para-militaries in the context of the Special Military Operation.
At the civil society level, a Commission of Inquiry composed of foreign journalists and activists (the so-called International Public Tribunal) has collected statements from survivors and witnesses bearing on alleged abuses committed by the Ukraine Armed Forces.
Serving as its director since 2022, Maxim Grigoriev first set out to document crimes committed against ethnic Russians living in Ukraine soon after the Maidan coup d’état of 2014. He has since published a series of books chronicling what began as his own initiative while appearing as a frequent speaker on various State-sponsored platforms.
Whatever one might be tempted to believe as relates to the forsaking of international law in favor of power politics these past 30 years, it would behoove Russia not to follow down this path of illegality.
As such, in judging alleged perpetrators of war crimes and other associated violations of the laws of war, Moscow should avoid a repeat of the sham trial carried out in Iraq under the supervision of U.S. occupying troops. At stake is Moscow’s own reputation in the global arena.
Having ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, it is of paramount importance that Russia, in the context of future proceedings, afford the accused a fair trial consistent with the principles announced in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Articles 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the positions of the International Law Commission, as well as jurisprudential decisions at international customary law.
Failure to abide by these standards will lead future trials to be characterized as war crimes.
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About the Author
Arnaud Develay is an international lawyer specializing in international criminal law and participated in the defense of former President Saddam Hussein along with Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
In the wake of the Caesar Act, he documented the illegal sanction regime imposed on Syria while living in Damascus.
He is the author of Foreign Entanglements: Biden, Ukraine and the Fracturing of the American Political Consensus (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2024).
Arnaud is now based in Moscow and can be reached at international.lawyer75@yahoo.com.
