The International Court of Justice in The Hague on April 19 rejected a request from Ukraine that provisional measures be taken against Russia to stop the Kremlin sending arms, equipment, soldiers and money to support what Kyiv says are terrorist groups in the Donbas.
But the court did acknowledge that Russia had a case to answer on charges that it was discriminating against ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in March 2014.
The court, in its ruling, said that it was unable to accept Ukraine’s claim that Russia was financing terrorist groups in the Donbas, as Ukraine hadn’t provided the proper basis of evidence for the claim.
Neither had Ukraine managed to prove the proper evidence of its claim that Russia was intentionally transferring money to separatists in the Donbas, the court said.
According to the court’s ruling, which has been published on the International Court of Justice website, under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Russia must refrain from maintaining or imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions, including the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar’s executive and representative body.
The Russian authorities must also ensure Crimean citizens can be educated in the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages in schools on the occupied peninsula.
Russia previously said it did not recognize the jurisdiction of the court in the case. The court has no way to enforce its rulings.
Lodging its case in January, Ukraine said Russia had been “intervening militarily … financing acts of terrorism and violating the human rights of millions of Ukraine’s citizens, including, for all too many, their right to life.”
Ukraine asked for provisional measures to be taken ahead of a final ruling on the case, as such cases can take months or even years to resolve.
According to Ukraine’s case, Kyiv is seeking “full reparations for … acts of terrorism the Russian Federation has caused, facilitated or supported,” in Ukraine.
Kyiv also wants Russia to end “racial discrimination” against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea – the Ukrainian territory that Russia invaded and seized in late February and early March 2014.
Ukraine also accuses Russia of being responsible for the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, 2014.
Evidence gathered by online investigation group Bellingcat has shown that the weapon used to shoot down MH17, a Buk missile system, came from Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade, based in Kursk. Using photos and video posted online, the group has reconstructed the route of the Buk unit, number 332, as it was transported from Kursk, into southern Russia, and across the border into Ukraine.
The group also found video of the Buk, minus one missile, being transported back out of Ukraine via the city of Luhansk the day after the shoot down.
Russia denies being a party to the war in Ukraine, but a large amount of evidence gathered by Ukrainian authorities, journalists, and independent researchers show these denials to be false.
Certain types of tanks and other weapons and equipment used exclusively by the Russian armed forces have regularly been photographed and videoed in the Donbas by the public and journalists. Russian soldiers have also been captured on Ukrainian territory by the Ukrainian armed forces.
After seizing the Ukrainian territory of Crimea and annexing it in March 2014, the Kremlin sent a special operations force led by a Russian military intelligence officer, Igor Girkin, into the Donbas in April 2014 to spark an uprising against the authorities in Kyiv.
Evidence gathered by journalists and researchers shows that Girkin, who in interviews has admitted taking part in the seizure of Crimea and “pulling the trigger of war” in the Donbas, led a group of about 50 Russian special operations soldiers that captured police, security service, and government buildings in Donetsk Oblast, and possibly Luhansk Oblast as well.
Ukraine responded by mounting what it called an “Anti-Terrorist Operation” to recover the seized parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
However, when the Ukrainian forces were on the brink of defeating Russia’s proxy army in the Donbas, the Kremlin intervened with its own regular troops, forcing Ukraine to the negotiating table in Minsk, Belarus.
