Romanian delimitation dispute: U.N. International Court ignored presence of Serpent Island on Ukraine's coastline

Romanian delimitation dispute: U.N. International Court ignored presence of Serpent Island on Ukraine's coastline

Feb 7, 2009 at 18:18 | Interfax-Ukraine
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is surprised that the United Nations International Court of Justice hasn't taken into account the presence of the Serpent Island and the length of coast lines of Ukraine and Romania.

"It's a little bit strange that the United Nation's International Court has set the delimitation line disregarding the relevant circumstances," Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Oleksandr Kupchyshyn has said at a briefing in Kyiv.

According to him, the court has ignored the presence of the Serpent Island and the lengths of the borderline of Ukraine, which is three times as long as that of Romania.

At the same time, Ukraine's representative at the international court Volodymyr Vasylenko explained these actions of the court by the fact that relevant circumstances are usually not taken into account provided the striking disproportion of the coastlines of the both states.

In particular, he said that the proportion of the borderline length of Ukraine and Romania is 2.8 to 1, whereas the court divided the Black Sea shelf and exclusive economic zones in proportion of 2.1 to 1. According to Vasylenko, the difference between these proportions is insignificant.

Besides, the court hasn't taken into account the Serpent Island while ruling on the delimitation because of its small size and remoteness from the shore.