Search Results for: Russia

Sri Lanka elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its new president on September 21, marking the first time in the country’s history that a candidate outside the two major political parties has won the presidency. Dissanayake, representing the National People’s Power (NPP) coalition, defeated candidates from the long-dominant United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom [...]

“For by Wise Counsel, Thou Shalt Make Thy War.” Proverbs 24.6 For mostly good reason, policy discussions of Israel’s nuclear strategy and doctrine have been intentionally vague and without evident nuance. More specifically, there have been few open-literature assessments of a limited nuclear war and its law-supported capacity for enhancing Israel’s strategic deterrence. Now, however, [...]

A Russian prosecutor on Saturday requested a seven-year prison sentence for a 72-year-old US man accused of working as a mercenary for Ukraine, according to Interfax. The Moscow City Court is holding proceedings in the criminal case of Stefan Hubbard, who allegedly engaged in combat alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) against the Russian [...]

Amnesty International on Friday raised concern about the ongoing coercion of Ukrainian teachers in Russian-occupied territories to teach the Russian-imposed curriculum to school-going children. The report portrays the resumption of schooling in the occupied territories as Russia’s attempt to justify its aggression by indoctrinating students with a propagandized curriculum. The Russian curriculum in the occupied [...]

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Thursday that the Prosecutor’s Office in the Volgograd region approved an indictment against Nikita Zhuravel, who was charged with treason under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code. The maximum penalty for treason under the Russian Criminal Code is life imprisonment. According to the Prosecutor’s Office investigation, Zhuravel offered [...]

Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Kyrgyzstan to drop unsubstantiated, politically motivated charges against independent journalists. Journalists from several independent local media outlets, including YouTube-based Temirov LIVE and Ayt Ayt Dese, face up to six years in prison, with a final verdict of the Lenin District Court of Bishkek expected to be delivered on October 3. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws on Wednesday that provide exemptions from criminal liability for individuals in the Russian Federation who have contracted for military service or have been mobilized. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, approved the bills in September. With the implementation of two new amendments, defendants who enter into military [...]

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday refused to sign a highly controversial “Family Values and the Protection of Minors” bill to significantly curtail the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. The bill, which passed with overwhelming parliamentary support, seeks to ban same-sex marriage, prohibit adoption by same-sex couples, restrict gender-affirming care, and limit public expressions of LGBTQ+ [...]

The opening days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a fierce and inspiring response by ordinary Ukrainians. They joined together in a mass uprising to defend their homeland. Under international humanitarian law (IHL), such an act of resistance is known as a “levée en masse” (levée). A levée is a unique category that temporarily [...]

The imperatives are plain. Whatever the trajectory of wars in the region, Israel has a law-based obligation to keep Iran non-nuclear. Immediately and incrementally, therefore, Jerusalem will need to ensure “escalation dominance” during periods of competitive risk-taking. This overriding responsibility concerns both Iran’s sub-state proxies (especially Shiite Hezbollah and Sunni Hamas) and Iran directly. What [...]