Moscow's failure of Hague's arbitrage decision will provide Kyiv with grounds allowing ask the court to tighten measures
Moscow's failure to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague (the Netherlands) on provisional measures on Ukraine's suit against Russia will give Kyiv the grounds to request the court to tighten measures, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian delegation at the court, Olena Zerkal, has said.
"The decisions of the UN International Court of Arbitration [International Arbitration Court of the United Nations in The Hague] are of a special nature. They are not subjected to the executive service." The decision withdraws the question whether Russia should do something or not. It should. We will each time demand a report on how Russia is complying with the decision of the International Court of Justice binding for everyone. This changes the very manner of communicating with Russia. In addition, no one prevents us from additionally contacting the UN Office to make it more stringent," Zerkal said in an interview with Zerkalo of the Week. Ukraina (ZN.UA), which was published on Saturday, answering the question 'what Ukraine will do in the situation if Russia refuses to comply with the decision of the UN international court on interim measures.'
According to her, on the one hand, international law is not as developed as criminal law, and the issue of control over the fulfillment of implementation of decisions is very relevant for international law in general. And on the other hand, the decision of the court transfers the issue from the political field to the legal field. "And this fact is changing all diplomatic work. Russia is aware of this. Being accountable for the implementation of the agreement is a serious test for Russia," the deputy foreign minister of Ukraine said.
According to her, the Ukrainian side does not deliberately put the issues before the court of the occupation of the territory of Ukraine, the territorial belonging of Crimea, the presence or absence of Russian troops in Donbas.
"We are talking about the dispute as a purely legal matter, in which we are seeking legal protection for Ukrainian citizens," Zerkal said.
As reported, Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the United Nations International Court of Justice on January 16, 2017, to bring the Russian Federation to justice for acts of terrorism and discrimination during its illegal aggression against Ukraine. The suit was filed under the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of December 9, 1999, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of December 21, 1965.
The Ukrainian side counts on the adoption by the United Nations International Court in The Hague of a decision on the introduction of temporary measures to the Russian Federation before the end of April.
Kyiv requests the following temporary measures: Ukraine asks the court to oblige the Russian Federation to refrain from any actions that may narrow or widen the subject matter of the dispute; to exercise proper control over the Russian-Ukrainian border with a view to stopping the supply of arms; stop and prevent the supply of money or weapons to groups engaged in terrorist attacks; to take all possible measures to influence the groups that it supports in order to prevent the commission of terrorist attacks against civilians; refrain from carrying out any measures of racial or ethnic discrimination in Crimea; to resolve the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people; stop violent abductions of representatives of the Crimean Tatar people; to stop restrictions on education in the Ukrainian language.