The UN Court recognized part of Ukraine’s claims against Russia in Donbass

On Wednesday, the International Court of the United Nations issued a decision on the lawsuit filed by Ukraine against Russia in 2017. In Ukraine’s statement, it was said that Russia violated international conventions on the fight against the financing of terrorism and on the fight against racial discrimination. The court satisfied the claim in part.

Kyiv claimed in its lawsuit that Moscow financed armed separatists in the Donbas, whom Ukraine accuses of terrorism, and is responsible for their activities, including the downing of a Malaysian Boeing in 2014, when 298 people died. In addition, the statement stated that Russia is engaged in systematic discrimination against the non-Russian population of the annexed Crimea, primarily Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars.

In its decision, the UN court recognized that Russia violated the convention on the fight against the financing of terrorism, since it did not conduct an investigation into the involvement of representatives of the “LPR” and “DPR” in terrorist organizations. However, the court stated that it does not have sufficient evidence to consider the Donetsk and Luhansk separatists terrorists.

As for those accused of persecuting ethnic minorities in Crimea, the court reported that it could not say with full confidence that the Crimean Tatars were persecuted precisely on ethnic grounds, and not on political grounds. He admitted that after the annexation of Crimea, Russia violates the rights of the Ukrainian population of the peninsula, since the number of students studying in the Ukrainian language has sharply decreased there.

The court refused to award compensation to Ukraine, which Kyiv insisted on.

• On February 2, the International Court of the United Nations must issue a decision on another claim by Kyiv against Moscow — about Russia’s violation of the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.