| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
THE ARMED CONFLICT IN THE CAUCASUS that was started by the current Georgian leadership in August 2008 is a textbook example of an unlawful use of military force by one party and the lawful use of force by another.
In 1974, the UN General Assembly adopted a definition of aggression: Although the document is not legally binding, it has a great political weight. In accordance with this definition, "an attack by the armed forces of a State on the land, sea or air forces, or marine and air fleets of another State" constitutes an act of aggression.1 Only the UN Security Council may decide on whether a particular act falls under the definition of aggression, but the sheer use of force first entails the right to use force in response. Indeed, one of the targets of a premeditated attack by Georgian troops was a Russian unit as part of the Joint Peacekeeping Force. The Russian battalion in South Ossetia was under Russian command, in contrast to the coalition force deployed on the basis of a UN Security Council resolution to conduct peacekeeping operations as part of national contingents, placed under the UN's operational command. As a matter of fact, the attack was made against a Russian state power agency that was outside the Russian Federation on legal grounds, which aroused legitimate counteraction on the part of the latter.
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