Political and Legal Aspects of the Right of Peoples to Self determination in the Light of Russian Aggression against Ukraine (Modern View)

Abstract

Summary The people of Ukraine are right now fighting for their right to self-determination, for their European choice. The European integration is a part of the foreign policy and national identity of many European countries, among which is Ukraine. According to Academician Yu. S. Shemshuchenko, the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine are the political and legal basis for the implementation of the foreign policy, which based on its national interests and domestic policy, widely recognized principles and norms of international law. As stated by the political leadership of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the RF, Russia), the goals of its army’s invasion into Ukraine are demilitarization and „denazification“. This fact confirms the denial and active opposition by a nuclear state of the national identity of the Ukrainian people, as well as an option for own choice of the independent path. As the reality has demonstrated, the right of a people to self-determination is not always fully implemented as a result of their acquisition of their statehood and territory within internationally recognized borders. States that systematically violate human rights are the most prone to aggression. Thus, aggression against other countries turns into another round of the infringement of the rights of citizens of the aggressor state. The essence of the international legal personality of the state is the people. The identity of the legal personality of the state, regardless of its current (last official) name and various circumstances that have taken place during the entire period of its existence (occupations, annexations, etc.), follows from the continuity of the people located on the territory of its historical residence. As a consequence, the legal personality of the Baltic states after liberation from the Soviet occupation is based on the continuity of their peoples.