What is happening in Nagorno-Karabakh?
After a short military offensive, Nagorno-Karabakh is fully under the control of Azerbaijan. Thousands of ethnic Armenians are fleeing the region in response.

As Russia begins widespread military action against Ukraine, this briefing outlines some of the international legal issues involved.
Ukraine Crisis: Recognition, military action, and international law (815 KB , PDF)
On 21 February 2022, Russian President Putin announced Russia would formally recognise the areas of the Donbas under the control of Russian-backed separatist forces, as independent sovereign states.
President Putin then signed Executive Orders recognising the self-declared independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR). Russia then signed Treaties of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance with the leaders of those regions.
Russia also announced it would deploy forces to undertake “peacekeeping” in the DPR and LPR. On 24 February, Putin announced the beginning of a “military operation” in Ukraine. While Putin said it was a special military operation in Donbas and Russia would not occupy Ukraine, the Ukrainian Government has said Russia has begun a full scale assault on the country.
On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia would launch a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine.
In his televised address, Putin argued the following legal grounds for this action:
The President said the purposes were to “protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kiev regime.” He also said Russia would “seek to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine”. Putin also said that Russia did not plan to occupy Ukrainian territory.
The relevant international law applicable to Russia’s military action is outlined in the briefing. The international response to Russia’s February 24 military action was still being announced at the time of writing. This will be updated as further comments and reactions on the legal aspects of Russia’s military action are available.
Many international responses to the events in Ukraine have condemned Russia’s military action as a violation of international law and the UN Charter. For example,
Article 2(4) of the UN Charter states:
President Putin had previously said troops would be deployed to perform “peacekeeping”. The UN Secretary General expressed his concern at the use of this phrase, stating it was a “perversion of the concept of peacekeeping” and that “they are not peacekeepers at all.”
This briefing explains the international rules on the prohibition of force, self-defence, acts of aggression, and other specific legal agreements that apply to the crisis in Ukraine. It also covers the international legal framework that applies to Russia’s recognition of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).
On 26 February 2022, Ukraine initiated proceedings against Russia at the International Court of Justice, calling for the Court to rule on Russia’s military action and declare that Russia had no legal basis for its invasion of Ukraine. This case is in addition to another legal complaint Ukraine made to the Court on 16 January 2017, which is still ongoing at the ICJ.
On 16 March 2022, the ICJ made an Order, legally binding on both parties, for provisional measures before it made any final decision in the case.
The Court indicated the following provisional measures that:
On 28 February 2022, the ICC Prosecutor announced his intention to proceed with opening an investigation as soon as possible.
Following referrals of the situation in Ukraine by State Parties to the Rome Statute, the Prosecutor was technically able to open an investigation immediately.
In response, the Prosecutor announced on 2 March 2022 that he would immediately proceed with active investigations and that work on the collection of evidence has now commenced.
In a separate, but similar, development, the UN Human Rights Council also established its own Commission of Inquiry into the situation in Ukraine.
This briefing was updated on 24 March 2022 to include developments on the case at the International Court of Justice, the investigation at the International Criminal Court, and proposals for a Special Tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression.
Ukraine Crisis: Recognition, military action, and international law (815 KB , PDF)
After a short military offensive, Nagorno-Karabakh is fully under the control of Azerbaijan. Thousands of ethnic Armenians are fleeing the region in response.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly provides a forum for parliamentarians from the NATO Member States to debate key defence and security challenges.
In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Western allies and other partners across the globe have imposed an unprecedented package of coordinated sanctions against Russia.