The Ukraine crisis, the nuclear threat and the ICJ Opinion of 1996

Abstract

The Russian aggression against Ukraine has unleashed new fears of a nuclear war and also due to direct and indirect threats by the Russian side. As a consequence, it seems appropriate to re‐open the debate about the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, a debate led to somewhat inconclusive results by the ICJ Opinion of 1996 on the ‘Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons’. If some elements of rationality are left in this war, nuclear weapons will not be employed in Ukraine. The major casualty of this rhetoric could, however, be the far‐reaching de‐legitimisation of nuclear warfare achieved in the past. Therefore, the time has come to re‐examine the ICJ assessments of 1996 and to take a clearer stance in this regard which should be more appropriate as to the exigencies of modern international society. It is argued here that now the ICJ would come to different conclusions if seized again with the same questions as in 1996.