David Turns – The Conversation

Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps and Freedom of Russia Legion talk to the press after a cross-border raid into Russia, May 24 2023. EPA-EFE/Sergey Kozlov

June 15, 2023

Ukraine war: what international law says about the Russians fighting against their own country

David Turns, Cranfield University

Two groups of Russian fighters have reportedly carried out recent attacks on Russian soil. What is their status under international law?

Ukrainian troops salute the coffins of four Ukrainian fighters of the sabotage group Bratstvo (Brotherhood) who died during a mission in Bryansk Oblast in Russia. EPA-EFE/Oleg Petrasuk

March 15, 2023

Ukraine war: ‘false flag’ operations – long used as weapons of mass distraction under the rules of conflict

David Turns, Cranfield University

‘False flag’ operations are as old as war itself – and are legal under the rules of war.

Detained: Vjekoslav Prebeg (Croatia), Dylan Healy and John Harding (UK), Mathias Gustafsson (Sweden) and Andrew Hill from Britain, during a court hearing in Donetsk, August 2022. Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters/Alamy stock photo

October 6, 2022

Ukraine war: prisoner swaps have been going on for centuries – here’s how they work

David Turns, Cranfield University

Five British nationals were part of a prisoner swap with Russia recently. Here’s what international law tells us about the detention and treatment of people taken in time of conflict.

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