Ukraine has sent a document to the International Court of Arbitration (The Hague, The Netherlands) reporting Russia’s aggravation of the conflict due to recent events in the Black and Azov Seas, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.
“We work in the context of our lawsuits. Yesterday we sent a very detailed document to international arbitration in The Hague, where we argued about the deterioration of our dispute, taking into account all recent events and their international legal qualification,” Klimkin said at a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Nov. 30 morning.
Klimkin said the Russian Federation carried out not one, but several fundamental violations of international law.
“The first is acts of aggression … Acts of aggression include not only shelling, the seizure of our ships and the wounding of our sailors but also ramming a vessel… Secondly, Russia usurped our sovereign freedom of navigation rights in accordance with the Convention on the Law of the Sea. I want to emphasize that we are talking about freedom of navigation because the head of the General Staff just informed us that our sailors strictly observed the safety rules of navigation,” Klimkin said.
The minister said Ukraine has formed its international legal position and today received support for this position from international partners: “This is evidenced by their statements.”
“It is very important that our international partners understand very well where Russia’s efforts are directed and this provocation is not limited only the Kerch Strait, not only the Black Sea but also to Russian attempts to destabilize the situation on the Azov coast and around Mariupol. Today’s statement by the Federal Chancellor of Germany where she said that we will not allow Mariupol to be torn away from Ukraine, is very clear and consistent … I talked a few minutes before today’s meeting with the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom of Britain – his words were just as clear as succinct,” Klimkin said.
