The Tribunal of different cases of Ukraine against the Russian Federation in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of Sea of 1982

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The complaints of the Russian Federation in the Tribunal of the UN in the case over Ukraine against Russia on the rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait are not substantiated. Ukraine will respond to all objections. The website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises.

Today, on August 31, the Tribunal of the UN claimed that before the viewing the case on the merits, they are intended to adjudicate on the complaints of Russia regarding the jurisdiction of the judicial body.

In February 2018, Ukraine submitted its Memorandum, which confirms that Russia transgressed the sovereign rights of Ukraine in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait. It demonstrates that from 2014, Russia unlawfully removed Ukraine from the implementation of its rights of the riparian state, uses Ukrainian resources for its own purposes. Except for the violation of the International Law, Russia steals Ukrainian energy and fishing resources, bothering Ukrainian fishers and blocks the entrance to the Ukrainian ports.

‘Instead of answering the merits of Ukraine's case, on May 22, 2018, the Russian Federation submitted its objections to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, which allowed the Regulations of the Tribunal. Accordance with the usual practice, the Court decided to consider these complaints, before the viewing the merits of the case. Ukraine does not think that jurisdictional complaints of the Russian Federation are substantiated or will be accepted by the Tribunal,’ reads the website of the MFA.

According to the message, Russia claims that the Ukrainian complaints do not concern the Convention of the UN for the Law of Sea; it is allegedly a try to get a decision, which approves the sovereignty of Ukraine over Crimea.

‘This complaint, obviously, wrongly interprets the Ukrainian lawsuit. Ukraine transmitted the dispute to the Arbitration on the rights of the coastal state in the Black and Azov Seas and the Kerch Strait, which are enshrined and determined in the Convention of the UN for the Law of Sea. The international community recognizes the fact that Ukraine uses these sea laws – during for more than two decades after the proclamation of the independence, the possibility of realization by Ukraine its rights, which is now a matter of dispute, did not cause any controversy,’ the agency noted.

The MFA thinks that the other complaints of Russia are not substantiated. In particular, the Russian Federation claims that the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait are not getting under the UN Convention for the Law of Sea; this is why Ukraine and Russia agreed to support these territories as common internal waters.

In its turn, Ukraine claims, in fact, the Russian Federation captured the gas fields in the Sea of Azov, intending to unilaterally abolish the Ukrainian licenses, to build the bridge and other constructions along the Kerch Strait, and to impose certain limits on the sizes of vessels.

‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to respond to all objections of the Russian Federation to the Tribunal. Ukraine thinks that the Russian Federation will be held accountable for the impudent violation of the International Law of Sea,’ the Ukrainian MFA claimed.

Reportedly, the UN Tribunal for the Law of Sea is viewing the case of Ukraine against the Russian Federation in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of Sea.