UN Court to consider Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia, filed after Kremlin's statement on alleged "genocide of Donbas residents"

The International Court of Justice in The Hague has decided to accept Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia. Kyiv accused Moscow of trying to use the alleged "genocide of the Russian-speaking population" in Donbas as a pretext for unleashing a war.

The UN Court partially rejected Russia's claim that Ukraine's lawsuit did not fall within the jurisdiction of the body.

At the same time, the court recalled that the Russian authorities had repeatedly accused Kyiv of genocide of the Russian-speaking population of Donbas when explaining the need for the so-called "special military operation".

Therefore, there was a conflict between Ukraine and Russia over whether genocide took place in Donbas, the ruling says.

Thus, the UN court decided to partially consider Ukraine's claims on the merits.

At the same time, the court rejected Ukraine's claim that Russia's unfair accusations of genocide against Ukraine could in itself be a violation of the International Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

At the preliminary stage of the case, which took place last September, Kyiv argued that Moscow (including President Putin personally) had used false accusations of genocide in Donbas to justify its illegal invasion.

In Ukraine's view, in doing so, Russia abused its rights and violated its obligations under the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The Genocide Convention of 1948 defines what constitutes genocide and establishes the obligation of state parties to prevent and punish such crimes.

Russia tried to prove that, from a legal point of view, the UN court does not have jurisdiction to consider Ukraine's claim, which was supported by 32 states.

"The purpose of the special operation is to protect people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years," was how Russian war criminal Vladimir Putin justified the outbreak of war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. These words formed the basis of this court dispute.

Representatives of Russia insisted that Putin's words about "genocide" were just a "rhetorical turn of phrase" that was not based on the definition of international law.

Ukraine, on the other hand, argued that the Russian authorities, represented by Putin and other officials in various public speeches, not only used "absurd claims of genocide" as a pretext for the invasion, but also prepared the ground for it for eight years.

In March 2022, as part of the lawsuit, the UN court ordered Russia to suspend military operations on the territory of Ukraine as an interim measure. This decision was left without consequences.

Background. As a reminder, the UN court found Russia guilty of racial discrimination in education, but rejected most of the other charges.