The Federal Law provides for revoking the declaration made by the Soviet Union during the ratification of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), adopted in Geneva on June 8, 1977.
When ratifying Protocol I on August 4, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR made a declaration to the effect that the Soviet Union, acting in keeping with Clause 2 of Article 90 of the Protocol, recognises ipso facto and without special agreement, in relation to any other High Contracting Party accepting the same obligation, the competence of the International Fact-Finding Commission to enquire into allegations of humanitarian law violations within the framework of international armed conflicts.
The following circumstances have led to the revocation of this notice.
The Commission has not actually performed its functions since 1991. It does not include a Russian representative, while Russia continues to make annual contributions to the budget of the Commission. In addition, the risk of the abuse of the Commission’s powers for political purposes by unscrupulous states has increased considerably.
Simultaneously with revoking the declaration concerning the Commission’s powers, the Federal Law has also invalidated the related clause of the Supreme Soviet Resolution of August 4, 1989.