The international community should recognize nuclear terrorism as a distinct crime. Ukraine, having experienced nuclear threats, is a key example for advocating the introduction of this concept across all platforms. Preventative measures and clear accountability mechanisms for nuclear terrorism must be established.
by Olena Shafranova, lawyer, coordinator of the NGO coalition “Stop Poisoning Kryvyi Rih”
October 18, 2024, the VII Kharkiv Security Forum “Civilian Ukrainians: Challenges and Resilience in the Conditions of Terrorist War” was held in Kharkiv. The forum was organized by the Maidan Monitoring Information Center and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation with the support of the Humanitarian Coordination Center.
The forum expert speeches are published here.
Russia shaped the norms of international law
Let’s talk about international law. The Russians have launched their poisonous tentacles into the whole world with their propaganda, their influence on international organizations. The fact that they, the former scoop, formed all these norms of international law, which after the Second World War we use. And which, as it has now become very clear, are absolutely impotent. And they do not act in any way.
They cannot influence security or act in any way preventively. Why? Well, we must frankly say that money trumps good. That’s all. Russian money is everywhere, in all international organizations. And they have leverage over decision-making, starting with the UN and ending with the notorious IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), which is trying to do something here by monitoring our Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. But we have only two ways to prove it: this is the national law of Ukraine and international law.
Ukrainian national law has gaps
National law has its gaps, because we are descendants of the Soviet Union. And we need to talk about this frankly, understand it. And many norms are still not brought into line with modern times. Many people, unfortunately, having a Soviet consciousness, they act from this prism. And therefore, collecting evidence about the crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine is complicated by these two factors.
In addition, from my personal experience and practice, unfortunately, the system of investigative bodies itself is quite weak. After all, usually in other industries and spheres we have poorly motivated people working there. In my opinion, collecting evidence of crimes should be done by highly motivated people, trained to act correctly and quickly, trained to thank our public sector.
Finally, this year, the Rome Statute was ratified. We can finally go to the international court. After all, we have been tormenting this Rome Statute since 2000 and not only did not have the political will, but were also, once again, under the influence of Russia. Because it was interested in us not developing our legal field. And we ourselves did not develop.
I want to give an example of a case that affects the environmental sphere. This is a local case at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, where our colleagues and partners from Maidan Monitoring Information Centre helped the investigation collect evidence. And this is very important. Also, if we talk about the environmental sphere, the case of the Odessa prosecutor’s office about the destruction of dolphins in the Black Sea was illustrative.
All other cases are very, very difficult. After all, if we talk about the aspect of environmental law, environmental crimes, then, unfortunately, we are again returning to the gaps.
Ukraine is forming a legislative framework for the whole world
International law also turned out to be completely unprepared. After all, it does not correspond to modern times and the challenges we have faced. And Ukraine, in fact, forms this basis for the whole world – how to act during a period of armed aggression, what to do, how to collect the evidence. Therefore, we have a very big responsibility — to conduct advocacy. After all, international law does not cover all types of war crimes, for example ecocide and nuclear terrorism.
We see that first the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was occupied, now the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. It is already clear about the IAEA that they will do nothing. But these criminal actions of the Russians, on no platform do we qualify as nuclear terrorism. And this is nuclear terrorism. But we must start with the fact that there is no proper definition of this concept, there is no definition of nuclear terrorism.
Ukraine should advocate on all platforms that the concept of nuclear terrorism should be introduced. And use Ukraine as an example to talk about this. Preventive measures should be developed for this, there should be separate responsibility. After all, the consequences here can be completely different not only for the country invaded. But also for other countries that can also be negatively affected by these criminal actions. So, without having definitions of all the concepts of crimes, we cannot go to the International Criminal Court with them.
There should be a program to counter the “Russian world”
I believe that at the state level there should be a program to counteract the “Russian world”. Because from this example, a person poisoned by Moscow Orthodoxy, with the “Russian world”, who travels the world, he carries this “Russian world”. From my observations: some people who went to Germany suddenly have the following thought: “Oh, not everything is so clear here”. They have seen enough of the local channels there, which are completely under Russian influence.
Excuse me, if you go abroad and type something into Google search, the first thing you will see is that these algorithms, set up to display Russian content. And there, between the lines, all the points that Yulia Laputina talked about will be tracked. So again, this should be promoted at the state level. And it is not only in Ukraine that we need to talk about this, but also on international platforms.
