THIS is with reference to the article ‘War in Ukraine’ (June, 23), which delved into the conflict in Ukraine in the context of the G7 summit held in June. Saying Pakistan should support Kiev because “Ukraine is right from a legal standpoint” is a misinter-pretation in terms of the norms and fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law.

The latter document clearly states that everyone should respect the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent countries “conducting themselves in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and thus possessed of a govern- ment representing the whole people belonging to the territory”. These principles should not be read selectively, but in their entirety and interconnection.

In 2008, the world observed the Kosovo precedent; the West blatantly destroyed the territorial integrity of Serbia by announcing the creation of an independent state without the will of the population.

Nato countries recognised the separation of Kosovo from Serbia as lawful. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its 2010 decision, based on Paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the UN Charter, confirmed the right to express the will of self-determination without the need for parts of the country declaring independence to appeal to its central authorities.

There is no fundamental difference between the Kosovo situation and the one with Crimea and Sevastopol today, where residents opted for secession and reunification with Russia, as well as the one around the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that opted for sovereignty and independence. The Kiev regime, which had come to power through a coup in 2014, was not representing those regions’ interests, completely ignoring the right of their people to self-determination.

The said article referred to the infamous ‘order based on rules’. The rather mythical rules propagated by Westerners favour states with hegemonic aspirations, but have not been spelled out in any international legal document. An ad hoc judge of the ICJ, D. Dugard, indicated that the use of this concept should be abandoned as the ‘rules’ are merely tacit accords between a bunch of Western states, challenging and threatening the international law. The said article itself noted that the G7 countries were openly imposing their will on the rest of the world.

Against this backdrop, the Pakistani leadership’s balanced, consistently neutral position on the conflict in Ukraine, has proven to be correct. Vice versa, the rational behaviour of pursuing an independent foreign policy distinguishes Pakistan from rabid supporters of the West and the countries that are under its influence.

Albert Khorev
Ambassador of Russia to Pakistan
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2024