UK tells OSCE that Ukraine’s armed forces are lawful combatants, rejecting Russia’s “terrorism” label

The United Kingdom told the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 12 November that Ukraine’s soldiers are lawful combatants and not terrorists, rejecting a description Russia used in the same forum the previous week. The statement was delivered by Colonel Joby Rimmer, the UK Senior Military Advisor, and published by the UK government.

According to the text, Russia last week called support for Ukraine’s defence “financing of terrorism”. Rimmer answered that Ukraine’s servicemen and servicewomen are exercising their country’s inherent right of self-defence and should not be described as terrorists.

The legal argument

The statement describes Russia’s full-scale invasion as a manifest violation of the UN Charter and says Article 51 of the Charter gives Ukraine an inherent right of self-defence, while international law allows other states to support that defence. It adds that international humanitarian law applies to all parties.

Rimmer cited Article 43 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions: members of the regular armed forces of a state party to an international armed conflict, other than medical personnel and chaplains, are combatants with the right to take direct part in hostilities. If captured, Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention entitles them to prisoner-of-war status, he said. They must be treated humanely and may not be persecuted merely for taking part in the conflict. In his words, applying the label of terrorism does not remove that status.

Prisoners of war

The UK statement contrasts how the two sides treat prisoners. It says the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission has regular and unimpeded access to official internment facilities in Ukrainian-controlled territory, while Russia continues to deny independent monitors comparable access to Ukrainian prisoners held in Russia and Russian-occupied areas. Of the 853 Ukrainian prisoners of war interviewed by the Mission, more than 96% reported torture or ill-treatment in Russian captivity, the statement says.

It also refers to the March report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to the UN Human Rights Council (A/HRC/61/61). According to the UK, the Commission found that Russian courts, and courts in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, had prosecuted Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war on charges including terrorism. The Commission found that these proceedings denied fundamental fair-trial guarantees and systematically relied on evidence fabricated or obtained through torture or ill-treatment, and concluded that the resulting grave breaches of international humanitarian law amounted to war crimes, the statement says.

“Special military operation”

Rimmer argued that Russia calls its war a “special military operation” because it wants to deny that an international armed conflict exists and to disregard the protections owed to Ukrainian prisoners under humanitarian law. “The law applies according to facts,” he said.

The statement was made on Armistice Day. Rimmer said the sacrifice of millions across the Soviet Union, including Russians and Ukrainians, in the defeat of Nazism should be honoured but cannot be used to justify Russia’s aggression today. He closed by saying Russia can end the war at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory, and that the UK will stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.

Part of a series of UK interventions

The statement follows other UK interventions at the OSCE reported by Geopolitiki, including UK tells OSCE that Russia must show evidence for its claims, as it condemns the Dnipro and Komyshuvakha strikes.