Political and legal aspects of obtaining post-war reparations for crimes of ecocide committed by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine

Abstract

The war that has been going on in Ukraine for more than nine years is dealing a devastating blow to the environment every day, as any military action affects the Earth’s natural resources in one way or another. Every day, the army of the aggressor state uses methods and techniques of armed conflict prohibited by international humanitarian law and causes intentional damage to the environment and civilian population of Ukraine. With this in mind, the article examines the conceptual framework (theoretical and practical) for the payment of post-war reparations by the Russian Federation to Ukraine and its political partners in connection with the international crime of ecocide.
 It is established that attention to the issues of environmental pollution is quite justified, since due to harmful production processes of economic activity, as well as due to armed conflicts, human civilization is destroying the Earth’s ecological shell, thereby causing irreversible damage and bringing us closer to an environmental catastrophe. Such actions are recognized in public international law as ecocide, although there is still no single definition of this concept at either the national or international level.
 The concept of “ecocide” arose long before its practical application in domestic and international scientific circles. At the same time, the active use of the term “ecocide” and its consideration as one of the main international crimes began only in the late 1970s. This was the impetus for the implementation of provisions on ecocide in national legislation and the establishment of criminal liability for its commission.
 At the same time, the author emphasizes the urgent need to amend Article 5 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court due to the fact that the concept of “ecocide” is mentioned in the document in passing and does not contain clear legal regulation. The initiative of the Stop Ecocide Foundation, which presented the Draft Amendments to the Rome Statute of the ICC in June 2022 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, is considered promising. Unlike the current version of the Statute, the initiators provide a clear definition of the concept of “ecocide”, which will allow the signatory states to freely apply this provision in practice.