Oral hearings on jurisdiction in armed incident in the Kerch Strait area on November 2018 are scheduled for Oct. 11 to Oct. 16.
“On Feb. 11, 2021, Ukraine applied to the tribunal to consider jurisdictional issues based on the submissions that the parties have already made, in order to prevent further delays in this proceedings. On Feb. 22, 2021, Russia objected to Ukraine’s request and stressed the need for oral hearings. On March 16, 2021 the arbitration tribunal informed the parties that the hearing on the issue of jurisdiction is scheduled for Oct. 11 to Oct. 16, 2021,” according to the prospectus for the issue of Ukraine’s eurobonds, which is at the disposal of Interfax-Ukraine.
As reported, on Nov. 25, 2018, Russian border guards detained the Yany Kapu Ukrainian tug and small armored artillery boats Berdiansk and Nikopol, heading from Odesa to Mariupol, with the use of weapons in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait. In Russia, some 24 Ukrainian sailors were accused of “illegal border crossing committed by a group of persons in a preliminary conspiracy or by an organized group, or with the use of violence or with the threat of its use” (Part 3 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
In April 2019, Ukraine initiated international arbitration proceedings against Russia for the illegal seizure by it of three Ukrainian naval vessels and 24 members of their crews. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea decided to apply interim measures: the court ordered Russia to immediately release the ships and their crew members.
The sailors returned to Ukraine on Sept. 7, 2019 as part of the mutual release of the detained persons by Ukraine and Russia. On Nov. 17, 2019, Ukrainian ships, accompanied by the Russian coast guard, left the Kerch water area towards the Black Sea, and on Nov. 18 they were transferred to the Ukrainian side.
On May 22, 2020, Ukraine submitted its Memorandum in this case to the arbitration tribunal, containing a statement of facts, substantiation of the legal position of evidence.
