World Court dismisses most of Ukraine’s lawsuits against Russia

Reuters
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U.N. Supreme Court judges on Wednesday found that Russia violated elements of the U.N. anti-terrorism treaty, even though Russia was involved in the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The court did not rule on Kiev’s claim that

In the same ruling, judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Russia violated the Convention against Discrimination by not supporting Ukrainian language education in Crimea after its annexation of the peninsula in 2014.

The decision was a legal setback for Kiev. The court rejected Ukraine’s request for a compensation order for both violations and only ordered Russia to comply with the treaty.

The representative of Ukraine, Anton Korinevich, stressed that the ruling was important for Kiev, as it proved that Russia had violated international law.

“This is the first time that Russia has been formally and legally called a violator of international law,” he told reporters after the verdict.

Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the ICJ (also known as the World Court) in 2017, accusing Russia of violating anti-terrorism treaties by funding pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

The court’s judges found that the Russian government’s failure to investigate plausible suspicions that some funds were sent from Russia to Ukraine to finance terrorist activities violated the United Nations anti-terrorism convention. He said he is doing so.

The 16-judge panel ordered Russia to investigate plausible allegations of terrorist financing, but rejected Kiev’s request for compensation.

The court rejected the ruling on the downing of Flight MH17, saying that violations related to terrorist financing only applied to monetary and financial support, not to the supply of weapons or training that Ukraine claims.

Ukraine claimed that Russia provided the missile system that shot down the plane, but did not claim any financial assistance.

A hearing in a Hague court last June called Ukraine’s claims that Russia funds and controls pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine a fabrication and a “blatant lie.” Rejected.

The incident, which took almost seven years, revealed that Kiev had accused Russia of equipping and funding pro-Russian forces, including the rebels who shot down flight MH17 in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board. He was accusing him of being there.

In November 2022, a Dutch court sentenced two Russians and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment in absentia for their roles in the disaster.

In Crimea, Ukraine said Russia was trying to erase Tatar and Ukrainian culture. The court rejected all claims regarding the Tatars, but found that the Russian government had not done enough to support language education in Ukraine.

The court’s judgment is final and there is no appeal, but there is no way to enforce the judgment.

The ICJ is scheduled to rule on Friday in a separate case accusing Ukraine of unfairly applying the 1948 Genocide Convention to justify the February 24, 2022 invasion.