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The international maritime court in Hamburg on Saturday (May 25th) ordered the Russian authorities to release the 24 Ukrainian sailors detained since November following a naval incident off the Crimea. Kiev celebrates a diplomatic victory.
" The Russian Federation must immediately release the Ukrainian military and allow them to return to Ukraine, " said Jin-Hyun Paik, president of the Hamburg court, which monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. the law of the sea. The court was seized by Ukraine in April, but the procedure was boycotted by Russia. In Hamburg, moreover, 19 judges voted for the release of Ukrainian sailors, only one voted against: the Russian judge.
The capture of Ukrainian sailors and ships in November had hit the headlines: in the five years of war, it was the first time that clearly identified Russian soldiers had attacked Kiev's soldiers. Especially since the three ships were just trying to cross the international Kerch Strait, which Russia has appropriated since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Today's decision is therefore a diplomatic victory, reports our correspondent in Kiev, Sébastien Gobert .
In Kiev, the reaction is received with pragmatism. For the new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Kremlin has the opportunity to send a positive signal that will condition all peace negotiations. We are waiting to see what path the Kremlin will take, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. " But in any case, we look forward to our soldiers at home! ", he added.
Moscow does not recognize the competence of this UN body
Russia will continue to defend its positions, the Foreign Ministry said. In other words, Moscow does not recognize the jurisdiction of the international maritime court in this case, it is unlikely that Moscow release the 24 Ukrainian sailors and return the three ships to Ukraine, reports our correspondent in Moscow, Jean-Didier Revoin .
Ruslan Balbek, Member of Parliament for Crimea, summarizes the situation as follows: Ukraine acknowledges the deliberate provocation in the Straits of Kerch and apologizes, we will then talk about the release of the sailors and the return of the ships, or so seafarers and Ukrainian ships will remain in our possession, regardless of what international justice may decide. And the member says that instead of taking the first step, Ukraine has chosen a dead end.
On 25 November, the Russian navy had boarded Ukrainian ships, which it considered to be dangerous in the Kerch Strait on the ground that they had violated Russian territorial waters.