The Principle of Respecting the Right of the Ukrainian Nation to Self-Determination and Preserving Territorial Integrity in the Face of Russian Aggression

Abstract

The article provides a comparative analysis of the leading principles of the UN: respect for the nation’s right to self-determination and the territorial integrity of the state, as well as their relationship, conditions of implementation and peculiarities of compliance in the context of gross violation by the Russian Federation of both of these principles in Ukraine. The author proves that the fundamental international legal principles of relations between states provide for respect for the right of nations to self-determination, including for their independent choice of their geopolitical activity, the right to inviolability of territorial integrity. This right is superior to the right of nation’s self-determination (with the exception of colonized countries and countries in which the rights of national minorities are grossly violated on a regular basis).