Combat Without Warfighting: Non-Belligerent Actors and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

The Russian Federation’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, assisted by Belarus, has provoked a range of responses from non-belligerent state and private actors that represent an evolved form of sub-warfighting combat. Going beyond traditional responses such as established types of sanctions, the responses to the invasion have illustrated a wide range of tools available to non-belligerent actors without reaching the threshold of warfighting. Nonetheless these responses fall short of those in other situations of breach of international law, such as arising from apartheid South Africa or North Korea’s nuclear aspirations. There is considerable scope for intensification of such responses and countermeasures.

Keywords: Ukraine, sanctions, countermeasures

JEL Classification: F51, K33