The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2018 could set the terms and procedure for hearing Ukraine vs Russia disputes, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said.

"This would be a year of good, I count on this, extremely good news for Ukraine regarding the cases in the ECHR," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The justice minister said that Ukraine several times sent requests to the court asking to set the reasonable terms and the hearing procedure.

"We expect that next year we would at least understand the terms and prospects and the procedure for hearing these lawsuits," he said.

Petrenko said that witnesses could be questioned in Ukraine.

"Maybe, it would be necessary to bring all the witnesses to Strasbourg. This is the question to the court and judges, how they will determine for themselves the hearing of these lawsuits," the minister said.

He recalled that international lawsuits against Russia are divided into several categories: initiated by Ukraine against the Russian Federation and initiated by state-owned companies independently in commercial arbitration courts regarding the illegal loss or expropriation of assets in Crimea by Russian aggressors.

According to him, the state has five major lawsuits in the ECHR and two major lawsuits in the UN International Court of Justice, which concern two conventions - the prohibition of discrimination and the prohibition of financing terrorism.

"I think that next year will be the year of the first news on commercial lawsuit for the terms that the courts have chosen to hear these lawsuits. According to the procedural schedule that the International Court of Justice determined, in 2018 Ukraine will have its turn to send legal positions. The Foreign Ministry is doing this now, as it is the main ministry for affairs in the UN International Court of Justice," Petrenko said.