13

On April 22nd 2022, the state-owned Rossiya 1 TV channel (which is widely seen as a Kremlin mouthpiece) reported that British prime minister Boris Johnson had "threatened to carry out a nuclear strike against Russia, if needed, without consulting Nato". The British prime minister's press office has denied he ever said such a thing. As far as I can find from press sources, this was not a (wilful) misinterpretation or mistranslation of anything he said, but simply a made-up quote.

This made me wonder, do the laws of war say anything about misinformation or psychological warfare? Is it e.g. a war crime to claim that the political or military leaders of the country you are at war with have ordered their troops to surrender, in order to mislead those troops? Is it a war crime to lie about the actions and declared intentions of your enemy to motivate your own troops? Is there in fact anything that binds a country at war to factual representation of their own and their enemy's actions, declarations, capabilities and intentions?

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    If a military unit lies and says "we surrender," only to ambushes the enemy when they approach, would you consider that misinformation and/or psychological warfare?
    – cpast
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 1:30
  • @cpast That seems pretty far outside traditional definitions of those terms.
    – bdb484
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 1:41
  • 2
    @cpast : your example is specifically prohibited. However, the question asks whether it's accepted to lie about the decisions, statements, and morals of your enemy. Which is completely different, and is being done all the time (just for an example from the other side, Putin was often quoted of officially laying claim to all the territory of former Tsarist Russia, although he never said that)
    – vsz
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 11:19
  • 2
    "All warfare is based on deception." -- The Art of War, Sun Tzu
    – Mason Wheeler
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 12:30
  • 1
    It feels somewhat relevant that, while the phrasing/context is provocative (and I'm not claiming that Johnson said it), the UK reserving the right to carry out an independent nuclear strike against Russia is just a restatement of basic nuclear policy. See this article (especially the 'No First Use?' section) for a discussion of why no country would ever (say) commit to only retaliating: acoup.blog/2022/03/11/collections-nuclear-deterrence-101
    – dbmag9
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 15:41

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
8

You have four questions.

This made me wonder, do the laws of war say anything about misinformation or psychological warfare?

Yes, a little. Mostly in the form of specific prohibitions.

Is it e.g. a war crime to claim that the political or military leaders of the country you are at war with have ordered their troops to surrender, in order to mislead those troops?

No, not as far as I could find.

Is it a war crime to lie about the actions and declared intentions of your enemy to motivate your own troops?

No, as far as I could find.

Is there in fact anything that binds a country at war to factual representation of their own and their enemy's actions, declarations, capabilities and intentions?

Yes, but only in a very limited context; indeed, misinformation is explicitly allowed, under the 1977 Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Article 37, Section 2, which states that "ruses of war" that do not rely upon the protections of the Convention to succeed, including "he use of camouflage, decoys, mock operations and misinformation" are explicitly allowed.

Some prohibited ruses include feigning protected status(non-combatant, surrendering, neutral party, United Nations, sick/wounded), feigning neutral status*, or feigning being part of the enemy*. (Source, ibid, Article 39).

*Except when conducted as part of naval combat operations(which have their own traditions, and generally allow pretending to be the enemy for purposes of transit, escape, etc. but require to fly one's true colors before taking offensive actions, as well as honoring surrender), and espionage (which is generally treated as a "crime" rather than an "act of war" under international law, when one is not wearing the uniform of one's own forces).

Improve this answer
12
  • Do you have a citation for: "espionage (which is generally treated as a "crime" rather than an "act of war" under international law, when one is not wearing the uniform of one's own forces)."?
    – user35069
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 9:23
  • note that the UK is not a declared enemy of Russia (in fact even Ukraine is not), nor is the UK a belligerent in this war, so whilst not explicitly stated in he text of the question it may improve this answer to discuss the case of non-belligerent opposed states
    – Tristan
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 9:55
  • @Rick: I do not, as such, beyond a) the aforementioned citation noting that operating under false colors is not a warcrime in the context of espionage, the disavowal of POW status for captured spies, and various nations criminal espionage statues.
    – sharur
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 10:02
  • @Rick believe this is referenced in The Great Escape, when eg Steve McQueen's character points out his (heavily dyed) uniform when he is captured so that he doesn't get shot as a spy. Not saying this makes it factual, just a fun thing!
    – Muzer
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 11:41
  • 1
    @DaleM Why not? During WWII, if you were in Germany and trying to get out without being detained, you might steal a German soldier's uniform.
    – Barmar
    Commented Apr 26, 2022 at 14:03

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .