Putin ignores international law. In its savage power play, it is no longer a category. There is an atmosphere of impunity.
These approaches seldom work since the five nuclear countries may use their veto to block decisions. This is a major reason why the UN is ineffective. It is a horrible perversion of justice that the UN Security Council is now chaired by a country that has just started an illegal war of aggression. The UNSC is frozen. Putin has established an environment of impunity in which international law is no longer relevant in his merciless power play.
The decades-long Euro-Atlantic security order has also been crumbling. Putin's aggressive war calls it into doubt. It is established in legally binding agreements in the OSCE (OSCE). OSCE now has 57 members from Europe, North America and Asia.
During the Cold War, the OSCE evolved from the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). However, Willy Brandt's détente strategy with the Eastern accords, the fundamental treaty with the GDR, and the four-power agreement cleared the ground for CSCE. The Helsinki Final Act of 1975 is a milestone in European peace strategy since it establishes the principles and values that must underpin peaceful coexistence. These include sovereign equality, non-violence, and inviolability of boundaries.
A New Europe Charter announced in 1990 that "the period of hostility and separation of Europe has ended." With the CSCE's Budapest Document, the first cracks in the organization's structure became revealed in 1994. Peace and security are based on human rights, basic freedoms, the rule of law, and democracy.
Optimistic, the participating governments agreed on the "European Security Charter" and the "Vienna Document" on transparency and confidence-building at the 1999 Istanbul Summit. To account for the changing geopolitical circumstances created by the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact, the Treaty on Conventional Disarmament in Europe was extended. But only Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan approved. Everyone else rejected, citing Russia's obligations in Georgia and Transnistria. This was a severe oversight: the contract did not specify this condition. Definitely a betrayal of Russian trust.
The USA terminated the ABM pact in 2001, and the USA and NATO established a missile defence system, but refused to do so in conjunction with Russia. These actions shook confidence and triggered a new weapons race. President Trump reinforced this trend by cancelling critical disarmament accords.
Then-Russian President Medvedev suggested a new security pact in 2008. Undivided security, non-interference in domestic matters, and border security should be its cornerstones. Other OSCE requirements including pluralism, rule of law, and human rights were lacking. The Russians had withdrawn from the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter.
In December 2009, Lavrov submitted a new draught treaty to NATO with significantly more specific requests. He cited all OSCE political agreements and NATO treaties, including the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act and the 2002 NATO-Russia Council Founding Act. Also affirmed were previously accepted rules and criteria. Simultaneously, he sought to disrupt the NATO expansion since 1999. It demanded that NATO not post troops in certain nations and was dropped.
On December 17, 2021, Putin proposed a similar draught pact to the USA and NATO. A new Euro-Atlantic security order in Russia's interests was thus established. A deal like that would render the OSCE and UN Charter's freedom of alliances outdated. NATO's cooperation projects like "Partnership for Peace" may then cease to exist.
New security system overthrown by savage assault on Ukraine. Putin threatens anybody who opposes him with nuclear devastation. "The UN will not continue until Ukraine survives," said Ukraine's envoy to the General Assembly on March 1. The global rule-based order and standards will vanish. The General Assembly unanimously denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But since then, the savage battle on Ukraine has persisted.
The author Uta Zapf was a member of the Bundestag from 1990 to 2013. From 1998 she was Chair of the Subcommittee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag.