A Fictitious States: past and present

The article discusses the concept of a fictitious state, which can be defined as an international legal fiction that is created or consciously supported by real actors in international relations to legitimize illegal actions, such as annexation, evasion of obligations, seizing the assets of other states, creating a buffer zone, etc.

The main feature of a fictitious state is the absence of real sovereignty in the presence of only external attributes of the state. The authors believe that fictitious states are a facet of neocolonialism. Although the number of states in the world has increased from 70 to 197 since 1945, this figure has no relation to the self-determination of peoples.

The authors conclude that at present there are no legal requirements for the legal capacity of subjects of international law. Condemnation or recognition of fictitious states, as before, is determined solely by the interests of foreign policy. The authors propose to continue work on strengthening the sovereignty of the Russian Federation at the level of national legislation.