Can a country be neutral in the 21st century?

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Neutrality in international law is the non-participation in a war by a country. Relations between neutral and belligerent countries are regulated by various international norms. According to them, neutral states must not act in favor of either side, while belligerents must respect the sovereignty of neutral countries. There can also be non-neutral and non-belligerent countries at the same time, because they are allies of a belligerent country, but do not intervene militarily in the conflict. The rules regarding neutrality are complex and tend to be interpreted very differently depending on whether it is a belligerent or neutral state.

In principle, citizens of neutral countries can trade freely with belligerent countries, but if they impose a blockade, that blockade must be respected. In the last round of negotiations between Egypt Email List Russia and Ukraine, the possibility of ending the war has been opened when Ukraine has assumed that it will not enter NATO and that it can accept its “own neutrality” different from that of countries like Austria or Sweden. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said : "The Austrian or Swedish model of what a demilitarized state is is being discussed for Ukraine and can be seen as an option for a compromise." Austria and Sweden do not currently have any foreign bases on their territory; they are two of the European countries with their own army but are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO.



Russia has been asking for a special status for Ukraine for years so that it does not enter NATO or host foreign military bases. Now, it seems that Kiev could renounce its membership in NATO, as President Zelensky suggested on March The four scenarios of the war in Ukraine But kyiv demands something else. The party negotiating with Russia has said that the Ukrainian option is to establish its own model of neutrality for its country and not one based on that of other countries such as Sweden or Austria. “Ukraine's model of neutrality can only be Ukrainian,” Mykhailo Podoliak, President Zelensky's advisor and member of the Ukrainian delegation in the negotiations with Moscow, bluntly said this Wednesday , according to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.