Moscow: Russia has said international law is “effectively dead” amid escalating tensions in West Asia following the US-Israeli strike on Iran and urged reviving President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to convene a summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the current global situation highlights the need to revisit Putin’s earlier proposal — first made before the COVID-19 pandemic — for a summit of the P-5 countries, namely Russia, the US, China, France, and the UK, to discuss global security and stability.
“We have all lost what we call international law… I don’t even understand how anyone can be called upon to follow the norms and principles of international law. It effectively no longer exists,” Peskov said in an interview with state-run Rossiya TV. He added that while international law exists de jure (by law), it no longer exists de facto (in practice). “We cannot tell anyone to follow international law, follow which law? Nobody can formulate today what it is,” he said.
Referring to the sharp escalation following the US-Israeli strike on Iran, Peskov said the region has become significantly destabilised. “The cumulative effect of the vast number of regional conflicts and unresolved issues is resulting in both economic and political consequences,” he added.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the US should clarify its broader plans and explain how they align with existing international norms. “We talk a lot about wanting to define what kind of world we live in… We believe the US should explain its plans and how this all relates to what previously defined certain norms,” he said during a state-run programme.
With PTI inputs