Russia’s war against Ukraine: institutional and legal factors and challenges to international security
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34079/2518-1521-2026-16-44-98-105Keywords:
monocentrism of power, authoritarian consolidation, institutional degradation, security agencies (siloviki), State Corporation, legal nihilism, revisionism, моноцентризм влади, авторитарна консолідація, інституційна деградація, силові структури, державна корпорація, правовий нігілізм, ревізіонізмAbstract
The article explores the genesis of the institutional and legal factors that necessitated the Russian Federation’s transition to a model of overt military aggression. It analyzes the process of power consolidation, the transformation of security agencies (siloviki) into independent political actors, and the degradation of legal institutions. The war is presented as a systemic result of the prolonged erosion of Russian statehood and the formation of a “monocentric authoritarian” model.
The conflict functions as a primary tool for the legitimation and economic reproduction of dominant security-service clans. Special attention is paid to the dismantling of legal checks and balances and the militarization of the executive vertical.
It is argued that the foundation of the modern militaristic architecture was laid by the 1993 Constitution, whose institutional dualism allowed the presidency to transform from an arbiter of branches into the dominant force of the political system. The article reveals the mechanisms of constructing the power vertical through the elimination of federalism, the conversion of parliament into a body for the legislative endorsement of executive decisions, and the total subordination of the judiciary to the interests of ruling security clans.
The role of security agencies and state monopolies is identified as key “shareholders” of the regime, for whom external expansion is a means of seizing new resources and legitimizing internal dominance.
The author concludes that within the current institutional model of the Russian Federation, aggression is the only viable format for regime self-reproduction. The stability of the “vertical” depends directly on the level of external destabilization, making militarization a functional state of the Russian state rather than a mere political choice. Sustainable security in Europe is shown to be possible only through the complete institutional dismantling of the existing Russian system and a return to the actual rule of law.
