International Law and the Post-Soviet Space I. Essays on Chechnya and the Baltic States

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 1606-1608
Author(s):  
Andreas Pacher
2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia Nikitina

Most studies of the post-Soviet space often explicitly or implicitly analyze Russia not as a new independent state but as the political successor of the USSR, thereby almost automatically leading to conclusions about Russian neo-imperialism. This paper explains how distorted discourses on the Soviet legacy originated and how they obstruct equal relations between Russia and other former Soviet republics using the example of the Baltic states.


Baltic Region ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Vladislav V. Vorotnkov ◽  
Andrzej Habarta

This article aims to analyse migration from the post-Soviet space to the northeastern periphery of the EU (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and examine the hypothesis about these states, once countries of origin, turning into destinations for migrants. A change in the socio-economic paradigm and accession to the EU sped up economic development in the Baltics and Poland. Despite growing welfare and income levels and a decline in the unemployment rate, further economic growth was hampered by the outflow of skilled workforce and resulting labour shortages. In response, the governments of the Baltics and Poland drew up programmes to attract international labour. Soon these countries transformed from exporters of labour into importers. Unlike Western European countries, Poland and, to a lesser extent, the Baltic States are trying to attract migrants from neighbouring nations with similar cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In the long run, this strategy will facilitate migrant integration into the recipient society. The Polish and Lithuanian governments are devising measures to encourage ethnic Poles and Lithuanians to repatriate from post-Soviet republics. To achieve the aim of the study, we investigate the features of migration flows, trends in migration, migration policies of recipient countries, and the evolution of diaspora policies.


Author(s):  
Oleg G. Karpovich ◽  
◽  
Semen S. Boykov ◽  

This article discusses the main problems and contradictions of interaction between the Russian Federation and organizations of Russian compatriots in the Baltic States. Practical aspects of interaction with organizations of compatriots (issues of granting grants, financing activities) are analyzed. The article examines the international legal framework for the activities of organizations of compatriots against the background of opposition to their activities by state bodies in the countries of their location. Russia cannot completely curtail the program of support for compatriots abroad, as this would contradict its state priorities as a regional leader in the post-Soviet space. It is in its interest to continue to provide assistance to the coordinating councils, but only with the specific interests of our country in mind. A critical analysis is presented, as well as practical recommendations for overcoming the existing problems.


Author(s):  
P. I. Pashkovsky

In this article, the author described features of Russian integration policy towards the Baltic States (1992–2009). I showed that in the first half of the 1990s, the mechanisms of Russian integration policy were bilateral and multilateral negotiations. From the mid to late 1990s, Russia declared the concept of multi-speed and multi-level integration. Under the influence of internal and external factors, Russia in this period is experiencing its decline in influence and the crisis of integration policy in the post-Soviet space. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Russian integration policy has been characterised by the priority of bilateral ties and economic pragmatism. The relations of Russia with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in this period are built on mutually beneficial bases, with many unresolved problems and sometimes a high degree of tension. In the second half of the first decade of the XXI century, under the influence of internal and external factors, Russia concentrates on internal modernisation and protection of its interests in the post-Soviet space in general and in the Baltic States region in particular.


Author(s):  
Alexandr S. Levchenkov ◽  

The article analyzes the influence of the concepts of the Intermarium and the Baltic-Black Sea Arc on the formation of Ukraine’s foreign policy in 1990 – early 2000. The use of these concepts in American, European and Ukrainian geopolitical thought, which historically included the idea of opposing Russian influence in the region, contributed to the increase in tension and was aimed at further disintegration of the Western flank of the post-Soviet space. The article proves that the design of the Euro-Atlantic vector of Ukraine’s foreign policy was already active under the first two Ukrainian presidents – Leonid Kravchuk (1991–1994) and Leonid Kuchma (1994–2005). One of the concrete attempts to implement the idea of forming a common political, economic, transport and logistics space of the Black Sea-Caspian region with a promising expansion of the cooperation zone to the whole of Eastern Europe and the Eastern Baltic during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma was the foundation and launch of a new regional organization, Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, better known as GUAM (composed by the initial letters of names of member states – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova; when Uzbekistan was also a member of Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, the name of the organization was GUUAM), which is an alternative to Eurasian projects with the participation of Russia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-26
Author(s):  
Johannes Socher

As a concept of international law, the right to self-determination is widely renowned for its unclarity. Broadly speaking, one can differentiate between a liberal and a nationalist tradition. In modern international law, the balance between these two opposing traditions is sought in an attempt to contain or ‘domesticate’ the nationalist conception by limiting it to ‘abnormal’ situations, i.e. to colonialism in the sense of ‘alien subjugation, domination and exploitation’. Essentially, this distinction between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ situations has since been the heart of the matter in the legal discourse on the right to self-determination, with the important qualification regarding the need to preserve existing borders. This study situates Russia’s approach to the right to self- determination in that discourse by way of a regional comparison vis-à-vis a ‘western’ or European perspective, and a temporal comparison with the former Soviet doctrine of international law. Against the background of the Soviet Union’s role in the evolution of the right to self-determination, the bulk of the study analyses Russia’s relevant state practice in the post-Soviet space through the prisms of sovereignty, secession, and annexation. Complemented by a review of the Russian scholarship on the topic, it is suggested that Russia’s approach to the right to self-determination may be best understood not only in terms of power politics disguised as legal rhetoric, but can be seen as evidence of traits of a regional (re-)fragmentation of international law.


1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-137
Author(s):  
Bart Driessen

AbstractThis study argues that customary international law obliges the Baltic states to accept the Slav populations as an integral part of the Baltic peoples. The history and collapse of the Soviet Union has produced large groups of Slav immigrants to remain in the Baltic states. They are not automatically granted citizenship rights in Estonia and Latvia, as they have to prove to qualify for naturalisation. People descending from the inter-War citizenry do ipso facto qualify for citizenship. First the nature of the coming-to-independence of the Baltic states is analysed, after which the law on self-determination is investigated. The de facto recognition of the Soviet annexation by most of the international community is seen as the watershed as far as the status of the Baltic states is concerned; from then on they were for all practical purposes part of the Soviet Union. Following an analysis of the applicable norms of customary international law, a scrutiny of relevant Baltic legislation is presented.


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