Ukraine called Russia a “terrorist state” before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday, accusing it of destroying a major dam as part of a years-long campaign of violence aimed at wipe his neighbor off the map.
The two countries are presenting their case to judges this week in a case in which kyiv accuses Moscow of supporting separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine for years since 2014.
The large-scale Russian invasion in 2022 is Ukraine’s “tragic but logical result” of its support for separatists and its occupation of Crimea nine years ago, and demonstrates that aggressors should not be allowed to violate international law.
“Just today, Russia blew up a major dam located in Nova Kakhovka,” Ukrainian representative Anton Korynevych told the UN’s highest court.
The attack on the hydroelectric dam, for which Moscow and Kyiv blame each other, “caused major civilian evacuations and serious ecological damage”, he continued.
“Russia’s actions are the actions of a terrorist state, an aggressor,” he added.
Ukraine alleges in this case brought before the ICJ in 2017 that Russia violated the UN conventions on the financing of terrorism and on racial discrimination, and seeks compensation for attacks by separatist rebels.
The conflict with pro-Russian separatists has claimed nearly 13,000 lives since its outbreak in early 2014, a month after the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych followed by Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
Lawyers from Ukraine will speak on Tuesday, while those from Russia will address the court on Thursday. Ukraine will then respond on June 12 and Russia on June 14.
Kyiv filed another petition with the ICJ following the February 2022 Russian invasion, accusing Moscow of planning genocide. The ICJ in this case ordered Russia to suspend its invasion.
The ICJ was created after World War II to settle disputes between UN member states. Her decisions are binding, although she has no means of enforcing them.
Russia’s contempt for international law does not date from last year, according to Ukraine.
“From 2014, Russia illegally occupied Crimea, then engaged in a campaign of cultural eradication, targeting ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars,” Korynevych said.
“In Donbass, in Kharkiv…we endured a campaign of intimidation and terror fueled by Russia,” he continued.
Moscow now holds much of the territory where the violence took place and where the separatists were in control.
Deaths in eastern Ukraine include 298 people killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in July 2014.
A Dutch court ruled last year that Russia supported the rebels, sentencing two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist in absentia to life terms for destroying MH17.
International investigators also said this year that there were “strong indications” that Vladimir Putin personally approved the supply of the missile that shot down the plane.
Russia is facing a series of legal actions in The Hague. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin in March.
She accuses the Russian president of war crimes for the illegal deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
06/06/2023 13:20:09 – The Hague (AFP) – © 2023 AFP