formality

Umeくんのfollow-upです。オバマ大統領の警告に早速、ロシアが反応しました。

Putin Asks Russia’s Senate for Permission to Send Troops to Ukraine

As Russian-backed armed forces effectively seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula on Saturday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia formally requested that the Russian Senate authorize him to use military force in Ukraine.

Mr. Putin’s request, largely a formality, acknowledged publicly for the first time the Kremlin’s readiness to intervene militarily in Ukraine, and it served as a blunt response to President Obama who just hours earlier had pointedly warned Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Even as Mr. Putin submitted his request to the Senate, formally called the Federation Council, it was clear that forces allied with Moscow were largely in control of the peninsula.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine.html?emc=edit_na_20140301

formalityは文字通り、「形だけのもの」、つまり必要ではあるが、それほど重要ではない形式的なものを意味します。LDOCEは"something you must do even though it has no practical importance or effects"と簡単に定義しています。事実上、プーチン大統領が議会を牛耳っているのでこうした手続きは事後の瑕疵を問われないようにするための言い訳の一つになります。（Shou-VR*）