Russia more isolated than ever amid illegal Ukraine war

Russia's international isolation has only grown since the beginning of their military invasion of Ukraine which began three weeks ago.

Yesterday the International Court of Justice ruled that the Russian Federation’s pretense for its invasion of Ukraine was illegal. In its ruling, the ICJ, the judicial arm of the United Nations, ordered Russia’s troops to immediately suspend all operations in Ukraine. This decision followed days of public hearings and deliberation by the judges, which resulted in a 13-2 vote in favor of stopping the ongoing violence. 

Additionally, Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe is over. The Russian Federation submitted its intention to withdraw and the Council officially ceased Russia’s membership yesterday. EU High Representative Josep Borrell said that Russian citizens will no longer be able to take cases to the European Court of Human Rights or benefit from the European Convention on Human Rights as of yesterday.  

“This is highly concerning and yet another restriction of Russian citizen’s rights, which was caused by Putin’s reckless policies,” Borrell said in a statement. “We urge the Russian Federation to rapidly return to compliance with international law, in particular with international human rights and international humanitarian law.”

All of these measures are on top of harsh sanctions from Western countries and other restrictions on Russia internationally. Russian athletes were banned from the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing. 12 Russian Universities were suspended from the European University Association after they signed a statement in support of the invasion of Ukraine. Russian state and club teams cannot participate in FIFA tournaments.

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