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19 October 2022: martial law, a prize and Chechnya
Summary
A retrospective on a day when Moscow extended martial law to annexed territories, Strasbourg honoured Ukraine's people and Kyiv's parliament acted on Chechnya.
What did one day in the war's eighth month reveal about how far the conflict had spread beyond the front line? On 19 October 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced martial law in the recently annexed territories of Ukraine, while the European Parliament honoured Ukraine's people and, a day earlier, Ukraine's parliament had passed a resolution on Chechnya.
Martial law in annexed territories
As reported at the time, Putin's measure took effect at midnight beginning Thursday, 20 October, in the territories Russia had recently annexed. It also introduced an "intermediate level of preparedness" in Crimea and in the federal subjects bordering Ukraine.
The measure was set out in two decrees. One introduced martial law in the territories of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson Oblasts. The other covered measures to be taken in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in connection with a presidential decree of 19 October 2022, No. 756. Later accounts place the introduction of martial law on 20 October 2022, a month after the announcement of mobilization.
Sakharov Prize for Ukraine's people
On the same day, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize to "the people of Ukraine". The award went to a population rather than to an individual laureate.
Kyiv's resolution on Chechnya
On 18 October 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a resolution recognising Chechnya as "temporarily occupied" by Russia. The text also condemned war crimes committed by Russia during the First and Second Chechen Wars.
The resolution touched on a subject that later descriptions of Russian war crimes cover broadly: violations of international criminal law attributed to Russia's armed forces and to entities it armed and financed, including the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics.
A day of three signals
Taken together, the three developments of 18 and 19 October 2022 showed activity on different levels. Moscow formalised a security regime in territories it claimed. European lawmakers made a public gesture toward Ukraine's population. Kyiv's parliament took a position on a historical conflict involving Russia. The reports of the day give no further detail on how these steps were received.
