Justifying War : Russia’s 2020 Constitutional Amendments and the Invasion of Ukraine

In January 2020, President Vladimir Putin surprised Russians and the international community by proposing a sweeping set of constitutional reforms aimed at developing “state structure and domestic policy.” In his state-of-the-nation address, Putin explained that while Russia’s 1993 Constitution remains relevant, amendments were necessary to secure “Russia as a rule-of-law welfare state where citizens’ freedoms and rights, human dignity and wellbeing constitute the highest value.” Despite the apparent emphasis on domestic policy, however, Putin’s push for amendments signaled a distinct preoccupation with Russia’s international standing. Putin asserted that “Russia can be and can remain Russia only as a sovereign state. Our nation’s sovereignty must be unconditional…Russia has returned to international politics as a country whose opinion cannot be ignored.” With this outward-facing orientation established, Putin’s proposed amendments sought to eliminate the potential domestic impact of decisions taken by international bodies regarding Russia’s international obligations and to prohibit government officials from maintaining foreign citizenship or residency. Putin’s fuller vision of the constitutional changes necessary to secure Russia’s sovereignty betrayed his singular fixation on securing Russia’s international status. This article posits that certain other amendments championed by the Kremlin—which failed to garner critical media or scholarly attention at the time of ratification—today functions as a justificatory framework of the highest order for legitimating Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. Specifically, these latter amendments unabashedly exhort a constitutional vision of Russia as a great power “whose opinion cannot be ignored,” tasked with promulgating a civilizational identity steeped in a heady—if selective—history of imperial entitlement and traditional values stretching back to the realm of Kievan Rus.To demonstrate the centrality of these constitutional amendments on Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the article focuses on two main themes that flow out of the 2020 constitutional amendments: sovereignty and civilization. Each theme is addressed in turn, by discussing the nature and substance of the relevant amendments and highlighting its direct linkage to the Kremlin’s proffered rationales and justifications in defense of its war of aggression against Ukraine. The article concludes by situating the constitutional amendments within the larger trend of “autocratic legalism” and urging the international community to place greater emphasis on a concerted international response that recognizes the constitutionally embedded motivations for Russia’s invasion and the urgency of sustaining an effective deterrence against aggression validated on constitutional grounds, unbounded by international norms, and conceivably poised to threaten the sovereignty of states beyond Ukraine alone