Is it a war crime or act of war for a noncombatant &quot;neutral&quot; third party in a war to share information with either of the warring factions?
<p>There is <a href="https://twitter.com/rustycohl/status/1522339781665083392" rel="nofollow noreferrer">some discussion</a> from fringe Twitter users that Ukraine's artillery strike on a Russian forward command post that killed Russian senior leadership was a war crime, based on an entirely incorrect reading of international warfare laws concerning &quot;treacherous killing&quot;, a situation which covers assassination through deception or ruse and doesn't apply here. After that was pointed out, <a href="https://twitter.com/rustycohl/status/1522403748424962049" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the user</a> in question <a href="https://twitter.com/rustycohl/status/1522428031972913153" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pivoted to</a> &quot;The location of this forward command post was shared with Ukraine by the USA, which is an act of war or a war crime in certain circumstances&quot;, circumstances which were not expanded upon. However, I'm skeptical of this claim as well.</p>
<p>Is it an act of war or a war crime if, during a war between country A and country B, country C with friendly relations with country A but not officially involved in the war shares intelligence about country B with country A?</p>

<h2>Sharing intelligence is an act of war inconsistent with <a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/law8_final.pdf" rel="noreferrer">neutrality</a></h2>
<p>However, so is supplying arms to a belligerent.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A neutral State must never assist a party to the armed conflict, in particular it must not supply warships, ammunition or other war materials directly or indirectly to a belligerent power, but otherwise its trade with the belligerent States remains unaffected.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, it’s not a war crime.</p>

laws-of-war