Professor of International Law Lauri Mälksoo delivered a talk focusing on Russian understanding of International Law at the Estonian Embassy on 27 August. The Estonian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Mrs. Kaili Terras highlighted in her welcoming remarks the significance of the date. Diplomat and international law scholar Friedrich Martens who was of Estonian origin, born in Pärnu on 27 August 1845. He played an instrumental role in the formation of international humanitarian law and figured prominently in the establishment of the Peace Palace in The Hague. The talk provided also an opportunity to discuss the importance of international law in the historical context as 23 August marked the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany that sparked the Second World War. The Pact contained the secret protocol, which carved up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
Mr Lauri Mälksoo is a Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu in Estonia, associate member of the Institut de droit international and member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. He is the author of the book “Russian Approaches to International Law” (Oxford, 2015) and co-editor of “Russia and the European Court of Human Rights: the Strasbourg Effect” (Cambridge, 2017). He is associated with the publication of Baltic Yearbook of International Law, Review of Central and East European Law and Journal of the History of International Law.
