Sailing into War: The Limit of Maritime Support by Third States under the Jus ad Bellum in the Russian-Ukrainian War

Details

Supervisors

Raphaël Van Steenberghe

Faculty

Faculté de droit et de criminologie

Degree label

Master de spécialisation en droit international

Abstract

In the case of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the law of neutrality and the requirement of third states to remain impartial towards both belligerents contrasts strongly with the current level of military support offered by third states to Ukraine. In an attempt to define this limit of third state support without becoming a belligerent party to the conflict and losing their 'neutral’ status, this work examines and explores the limit of maritime support third states can provide in relation to the provisions under the jus ad bellum. This work evaluates how to define the threshold value for third state military support before it constitutes a use of force as defined in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter by reviewing the principles of jus ad bellum and operationalising current legal doctrine on the use of force in cases where third states offer maritime support to Ukraine in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian War. On the evaluation of current third state support in relation to the threshold value set by the jus ad bellum, it is possible to conclude that a status of ‘qualified neutrality’ can be maintained. Nonetheless, third states' practice should be evaluated by different legal regimes, such as the jus in bello and the law on state responsibility, to evaluate and compare the third state's posture of partiality and its status of non-belligerency towards Russia.