The Frame of ‘Lawfare’ and the UK’s Responses to Ukrainian War - An Analytical Research -

The purpose of this article is to examine the UK’s response to on-going Ukrainian War through the frame of ‘lawfare’. The term lawfare is a compound word with law and warfare describing certain circumstances or cases where the law is used as a means for achieving strategic objectives like weapons in warfare. Given that both Russia’s justification for invasion as well as international community’s responses to Russia are based on various principles of international law, such an analysis will provide another insightful perspective to understand these complicated legal actions and discourses. To that end, this article first explores the concept of lawfare in international law and the notion of instrumentalising the law for justifying certain actions. Based on this understanding this paper will apply the frame of lawfare to the UK’s responses to Russia’s violation of international law. Here, the UK’s bilateral and multilateral conducts of lawfare will be addressed. Then, an appraisal and some reflections on the concept of lawfare will be followed.