Arms Control

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The Death of Nuclear Arms Control Treaties

April 21, 2023

A generational crisis in international nuclear arms control law was already looming when, on February 21, 2023, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would suspend its participation in the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).  New START, a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the U.S., was already scheduled to terminate by its terms on February 4, 2026. Russia’s suspension of its participation in the treaty, the practical implications of which are still emerging, moves that crisis even closer to realization.  That’s because New START is the last nuclear arms control treaty in effect between the U.S. and Russia – the last vestige of the intricate web of nuclear arms control treaties which were crafted through immense investment of effort both during and after the Cold War, and which are rightly credited with facilitating the coordinated drawdown of sockpiled and deployed nuclear weapons by the erstwhile superpowers from their Cold War combined high of over 65,000, to the present number of around 13,400.  New START provides that each…

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On the ‘Suspension’ of the New START Treaty by Russia

March 17, 2023

On 21 February 2023, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, announced to the Federal Assembly that Russia would suspend the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the ‘New START Treaty’, signed on 8 April 2010…

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Russia’s Recognition of the ‘Separatist Republics’ in Ukraine was Manifestly Unlawful

March 9, 2022

The rush to judgment can be deceptive. A recent contribution to these pages cautions us against making instant assumptions of fact and law when considering Russia’s recognition as states of parts of Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts within Ukraine as manifestly unlawful. Two questions arise: Do the Oblasts meet the criteria of statehood and, if so,…

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An International Law Assessment of the Collective Self-defence Clause of the 2021 Treaty on the ‘Establishment of Strategic Partnership of Cooperation in Matters of Defence and Security’ between Greece and France

October 28, 2021

On 28 September 2021 France and Greece concluded a bilateral treaty on the ‘Establishment of Strategic Partnership of Cooperation in Matters of Defence and Security’ (see the Greek and French version here. The Treaty has not been translated yet into English). The Treaty is premised on a community of interests in matters of foreign policy, defence, and…

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Complicity in war crimes through (legal) arms supplies?

January 20, 2020

  German and other corporations whose arms were used in the war in Yemen have been accused of criminally assisting war crimes. The Berlin-based NGO European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a complaint (a “communication”) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) making this claim with regard to a series of multinational arms companies. But…

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