The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague began hearings on Monday regarding Ukraine’s lawsuit against Russia for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention in connection with the special military operation in Ukraine. However, Russia’s representative at the court, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Maria Zabolotskaya, claimed that Ukraine and other countries had misled the court on several issues.
The preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation are being discussed during this block of hearings, which will continue until September 27th. On September 20th, more than 30 Western countries presented their statements, all insisting that the ICJ has jurisdiction to hear this case. Zabolotskaya stated during Monday’s court session, “The statements made last week reveal the true intention of Ukraine and its supporters to involve this court in a case that falls outside its jurisdiction. When discussing these issues that are not covered by this lawsuit, they completely avoided addressing certain aspects and actively misled the court on other matters.”
On February 26th, 2022, following the start of the Russian military operation, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia at the ICJ. The case pertains to the 1948 Genocide Convention for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the lawsuit based on “twisted logic” and emphasized that the collective West is abusing the norms of international justice. In its statement, the Ukrainian side requested the court to issue provisional measures. By a resolution dated March 16th, 2022, the court called on Russia to immediately halt the military operation in Ukraine, ensure that all armed formations, organizations, and individuals under Russian control do not take any actions to aid the military operation, and called on both sides to refrain from any actions that could worsen the judicial proceedings or hinder their resolution.
On October 3rd, 2022, Russia raised preliminary objections to the court’s jurisdiction and the admissibility of the lawsuit, resulting in a suspension of substantive proceedings. In June 2023, the ICJ allowed more than 30 states to join Ukraine’s lawsuit against Russia.
This ongoing case raises significant tensions between Russia and Ukraine, as well as highlighting the complexities of international justice and the role of the ICJ in resolving disputes between nations.
