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International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague
Photo: Patrick Post / AP
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague has largely dismissed a 2017 lawsuit filed by Ukraine against Russia. The lawsuit focused on Moscow's financial support for pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine. In its ruling, the United Nations' highest court also largely dismissed the lawsuit alleging discrimination against Ukrainians and Tatars in Crimea. The Court said that the allegations made by Ukraine were not sufficiently substantiated in both cases.
But the judges said Moscow had violated a legally binding order from 2017. At that time, the court ordered both parties to do everything possible to avoid aggravating the conflict. But in 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine.
Ukraine had already sued Russia in the Court of Justice in 2017, long before the large-scale Russian invasion two years ago, citing the Convention on the Prohibition of the Financing of Terrorism. According to Ukraine, Russia's aggression began in 2014 in Donbass and on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia continues to annex to this day.
The judges now assessed only the events before the 2022 invasion and said that the evidence provided by Ukraine of alleged Moscow-funded terrorism in Donbass was insufficient. The convention on which the lawsuit was based also does not refer to support with weapons. According to the verdict, Moscow has not done enough to investigate individual allegations of possible financing of terrorism.
Judgments of the International Court of Justice are binding. However, the court does not have the means to enforce this. The current verdict is a defeat for Ukraine, which had hoped to gain support for further calls for more sanctions against Russia. Moscow strictly rejected the allegations.
col/dpa