Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister: Russia trying to manipulate International Court of Justice

When considering objections to the lawsuit of Ukraine at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Russia is trying to manipulate the court and consider the case on merits under its own conditions, instead of considering the issues of jurisdiction.

"Should the International Court of Justice consider the lawsuit filed by Ukraine? The parties answer this question before the court this week. The Russian Federation starts as it threw discredit on the ICJ’s jurisdiction. The arguments of the Russian Federation have long been known. On September 12, 2018, Russia filed its Preliminary Objections at the court," Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal posted on Facebook.

According to Zerkal, the first thesis of the Russian Federation is that the Court has no jurisdiction to consider Ukraine’s lawsuits over aggression, unlawful occupation, outright violations of the UN Charter, and therefore Ukraine seeks to circumvent these limitations of jurisdiction and artificially tries to fit the mentioned violations into the jurisdictions of the two Conventions.

The second thesis of the Russian Federation is that all the violations claimed by Ukraine are not violations at all. "No terrorism, no financing, no persecutions. It is the most dangerous part. On the one hand, Russia is trying to distort the entire evidence base... On the other hand, it is trying to literally change the texts of the conventions, demanding that they should be read in a way so that Russia’s actions would not fall under their action," Zerkal noted.

As noted, the third thesis of the Russian Federation is that Ukraine was unfair in its attempts to resolve the dispute peacefully before filing a lawsuit.

Zerkal reported that Ukraine’s response to the objections of the Russian Federation was also set out in the written form. On January 14 of this year, Ukraine submitted its Written Statement on more than 200 pages, explaining the fallacy of the position of the Russian Federation.

“First, the Russian Federation is trying to manipulate the Court and consider the case on merits under its own conditions, instead of considering the issues of jurisdiction… Second, we once again and very carefully explain the nature of the dispute,” the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister added.

The Preliminary Objections of the Russian Federation and the Written Statement of Ukraine will soon be published on the website of the International Court of Justice.

As reported, on June 3-7, the International Court of Justice in The Hague holds the public hearings over the application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in Ukraine v. Russia case.

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