MOSCOW’S NUCLEAR TERRORISM AGAINST KYIV AND THE COLLECTIVE WESTERN WORLD IN GENERALIN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIA’S FULL-SCALE WAR AGAINST UKRAINE AND THE FORCEFUL SEIZURE AND OCCUPATION OF THE ZAPORIZHZHYA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2524-2679-2024-02-191-210Keywords:
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, state nuclear terrorism, nuclear terrorism, terrorist state, state sponsor of terrorism, ZNPP, IAEA, Additional Protocol I of 1977 to the Geneva Convention of 1949, Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material of 1979 (CPPNM), International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism of 2005 (ICSANT)Abstract
The article covers issues of nuclear terrorism and nuclear blackmail of Russia, which the aggressor state carries out as part of, in particular, the crime of forcible seizure and occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. A historical tour of attacks on nuclear facilities in the past is made, with the statement that Moscow’s crime at the ZNPP is the first in the history of nuclear power, with the seizure of a functioning nuclear plant of one country by the armed forces of another. It is empha- sized that, as of today, international law is codified only with regard to crimes against nuclear facilities in the form of acts of nuclear terrorism committed by individuals or groups of individuals without the involvement of states. At the same time, nuclear terrorism by terrorist states and state sponsors of terrorism is not codified and, as shown by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, requires ur- gent codification, that is, the development and adoption of relevant conventions. The article also considers the issue of the IAEA’s soft law aimed at protecting nuclear material.
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