Written by Francesco Adriani, Rossella Muzzeddu

On 21 September, Russian Federation’s President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilisation of Russian citizens to reinforce Moscow’s military deployment in the Russian war in Ukraine (Ellyatt, 2022).

In his speech, Putin remarked that Russia will protect its territorial integrity with ‘all the means at [our] disposal’ (The Washington Post, 2022). The statement struck fear in the West, as the nuclear threat lurks over Europe. With the usage of nuclear weapons being now a tangible risk, questions have been again raised about the legal status of such armaments under current international law.