International legal characterization of methods and means of warfare in the information space

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INTRODUCTION. In the world, due to the growing trends in the militarization of the information space, military actions in this area are becoming a reality and a prospect for a number of operational, tactical and other advantages in comparison with military actions in traditional forms within the classical theaters of war. Information military confrontation will be carried out through the use of a new type of weapon – information, which does not fit into the established paradigm of approaches to traditional weapons, which, of course, gives rise to many questions and contradictory expert opinions, but is in dire need of further development and comprehensive research.MATERIALS AND METHODS. Given the complexity and multi-component nature of the topic under study, the study is based on the results of the analysis of scientific works by Russian and foreign legal scholars on international humanitarian law (IHL), experts in the field of military affairs, and specialists in the field of information technology. The author also examines key international treaties on IHL, on the topic of international information security (IIS), which together form the basis for the international legal qualification of information weapons as a means of waging war in the context of the gradual adaptation of IHL norms to situations of hostile use of information space. In conducting the study, analytical and review materials of the ICRC on the issue of cyber operations during an armed conflict were used. The methodological basis is made up of general scientific and special research methods.RESEARCH RESULTS. The results of the conducted study established two formed concepts reflecting approaches to IIS and threats in this area through the prism of cybertopics and information aspect, within the framework of each of which specific terminology is formed, including approaches to defining methods and means of conducting military operations. It was determined that the domestic doctrine is built around the information agenda of security, which determined the development of the definition of “information weapons” and the study of its status as a promising means of waging war in the information space. It seems significant to identify and generalize doctrinal trends in the qualification of information weapons as weapons of mass destruction or conventional weapons, as well as to establish new approaches to regulating the development and use of information weapons in armed conflicts.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The article presents the author’s objective assessments of the existing doctrinal approaches of both domestic and foreign scientists on the issue of international legal qualification of methods and means of waging war in the information space in general and information weapons as a means of waging war in particular. Separately, international treaties on IHL and IIS are considered in terms of the possibility of applying their provisions to regulate the restriction of the behavior of warring parties in information warfare, taking into account a certain adaptation of IHL norms to the conditions of hostile use of information technologies. Prospects for further development of the IHL doctrine on regulating the development and use of information weapons in armed conflicts are identified.