CUBAN (1962) AND UKRAINIAN CRISIS (2022) – THE WORLD ON THE VERGE OF NUCLEAR WAR, 60 YEARS LATER

Abstract

The paper deals with the comparison of two cases when humanity was closest to the outbreak of a world nuclear war - the Cuban missile crisis (1962) and the Ukrainian crisis (2022). First, the basic elements of the term “international crisis” were given, and then, based on selected criteria, the Cuban crisis and the reality that arose from the invasion of the Russian armed forces into Ukraine were analyzed. The international legal aspects of these problems were specially addressed, with the fact that it was pointed out that, unlike the American naval blockade of Cuba, there was nothing illegal in the deployment of Soviet missiles on that island, yet the USA was still ready for war just to remove the threat. In the case of the Ukrainian crisis (2022), everything is much more complicated. Although at first glance, this is a classic case of aggression, Russia invoked the favorite arguments and concepts of the USA, such as humanitarian intervention and preventive self-defense. In the concluding remarks, the authors point out that, according to current international law, all international disputes and crises must be resolved exclusively by peaceful means, that the Ukrainian crisis should not be an exception in this respect, and that, after all, a good example is the Cuban Missile Crisis, which ended with a kind of agreement.