Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Olena Zerkal has said that Ukraine requires the Arbitration Tribunal to convict the Russian Federation of violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, despite the returning of the ships.
“It is symbolic that on the Day of Dignity and Freedom, we uphold the freedom and dignity of Ukraine and our sailors at the arbitration venue in The Hague. These hearings concern our warships and sailors captured by the Russian Federation a year ago, but they are procedural in nature,” Zerkal noted.
According to the deputy minister, “based on the results of these hearings, the Arbitration Tribunal will take its first decision and approve the rules of its work, determine the name of the case and the basis of transparency, namely the possibility of the general public accessing the case materials, as well as the possibility of broadcasting the hearings online.”
“We insist that the case is urgent, because despite the fact that the Russian Federation released our sailors in September, criminal cases against them continue. That is, it continues to deny the immunity of Ukrainian sailors. Almost a year after they were captured on November 25, 2018, the Russian Federation freed our ships by seizing weapons, communication equipment and documents from them. Thus, the Russian Federation continues to violate the order of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of May 25, 2019 and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Zerkal emphasized.
Thus, the Tribunal must put an end to these ongoing violations.
“Therefore, Ukraine requires a final, binding decision on the recognition of the Russian Federation as guilty of violating a number of articles of the Convention,” the deputy minister said.
Russia seeks to make the hearings as closed as possible. In this regard, the Hague hosted an exchange of positions and arguments between the parties.
“Given the significant difference in the parties’ approaches to the most sensitive issues, it was impossible to reach an agreement,” Zerkal said.
As The Journalist reported, Olena Zerkal claims her intention to leave her post at Foreign Ministry.
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