West Plunges International Law Into Crisis: Leading Russian MP

Interfax
March 13, 2014

Intl law is in serious crisis – Pushkov

MOSCOW: International law is currently in a crisis and the West only remembers about it when it needs to make accusations against Russia, Alexei Pushkov, the head of the State Duma international affairs committee, said.

“Unfortunately, international law has turned into a purely functional argument. They turn a blind eye to it when they need to justify their own actions, but they remember about international law when they need to accuse Russia of some actions that the European Union doesn’t like,” Pushkov told Interfax on Thursday.

Pushkov said he believes international law is currently in a serious crisis.

“They are accusing us of violations of international law, although many EU countries violated it many times when some of them were involved in the occupation of Iraq, when they backed the independence of Kosovo, and when they bombed Libya and Belgrade,” he said.

Pushkov recalled that an international court ruled in 2010 that the Kosovo Declaration of Independence, which was declared by the Kosovo parliament without holding a referendum, does not contradict the principles of international law.

“An international court backed that. The UK said the separation does not contradict international law. France, Germany and America said the same. Now that the parliament of Crimea has declared the independence of Crimea they are explaining that it contradicts international law. These arguments can’t be taken seriously, and we told our European colleagues that,” Pushkov said.

Pushkov said he believes it cannot be said that there is some unified international law now. He also recalled that Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who now heads the Ukrainian government, once backed the separation of Kosovo.

“Apparently, he also believed that the separation of Kosovo did not contradict international law. As far as I know, he now has a totally different stance on Crimea,” Pushkov said.