Agents of Deterrence: The Baltic Politics of Post-war Accountability for Russia

• In Event: The Nexus between Transitional Justice and International Norms

Abstract

The calls for holding Russia accountable for the aggression against and atrocities in Ukraine illustrate subscribing to the norms of legal accountability and deterrence in transitional justice and international criminal law. Meanwhile, there is no international consensus about the preferred institutional design for such an accountability mechanism for Russia today. This paper investigates the Baltic initiatives for establishing post-war accountability instruments for Russia, notably the demands for creating an international UN General Assembly-endorsed special tribunal to prosecute Russian crime of aggression against Ukraine (#SpecialTribunalNOW) and the proposals for the EU to use the frozen assets of Russia to rebuild Ukraine. The case study of the Baltic agency in the physical and political frontlines of the collective West’s deterrence politics towards Russia draws on documentary and discourse analysis, alongside interviews with relevant diplomatic and political spokespersons. It serves as an empirical illustration of a particular norm entrepreneurship in endorsing justice for international crimes. Disturbing the ingrained epistemic hierarchies in the European politics, the Baltic agency-claiming on the issue of post-war justice for Ukraine provides an instance of a search for belated symbolic justice for Russia’s/USSR’s historic crimes by states in geographical proximity to Ukraine and with prior histories of Russian aggression.

Author

• Maria Mälksoo, University of Copenhagen