LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY OF MILITARY SERVANTS: HISTORICAL LAW ASPECTS

Abstract

The article analyzes the historical law bases of legal responsibility of servicemen during armed conflicts. The typification of armed conflicts is classified and carried out on various grounds, including on the basis of evolutionary nature (four generations of wars). It is concluded that in the XXI century armed conflicts have a number of fundamentally new features (unconventionality, nonlinearity, irregularity, asymmetry and non-military nature), which distinguishes them from the armed confrontations of previous epochs and refers to the fourth generation wars. The analysis described the following similar terms: «war», «military conflict», «armed conflict», and identified similarities, identities or substantive differences between them, which is important for the correct legal classification of war crimes. The relevance of the research topic is due to the fact that today the aggressor states in armed conflicts use the so-called «hybrid means of warfare», which include, in addition to confrontation on the battlefield in the classical sense, confrontation on economic, informational, political and cultural fronts. The emergence of these new weapons requires the study of the essence of «hybrid» confrontation: the means, methods and tactics used, the purpose of defeat by one means or another to deter the aggressor states, as well as to counter them. The urgency of the topic is also due to the fact that Ukraine today, unfortunately, found itself in a state of armed confrontation, fell victim to a «hybrid conflict» on the part of the Russian Federation. As practice shows, the nature of the discussion of this problem and the process of developing and approving specific measures aimed at counteracting and deterring the aggressor state proves the inability of most international organizations responsible for international peace and security to address such issues in practice. From this point of view, a historical and legal analysis of the formation of the institution of legal responsibility of servicemen during armed conflicts, given the crucial importance of bringing to justice those guilty of war crimes.