UN Court announces date of its decision on Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia regarding Crimea and Donbas

The United Nations International Court of Justice has announced the date of ruling in Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia regarding the violation of the latest conventions on the prohibition of terrorist financing and the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination on 25 January. 

The decision of the UN Court on this lawsuit – the first interstate lawsuit that Ukraine filed against Russia back in 2017 in connection with the aggression in Crimea and Donbas – will be announced on 31 January at 15:00 local time (16:00 Kyiv time). 

It is about the case Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. the Russian Federation). 

In the case, Ukraine proves that Russia violated the relevant conventions by arming the armed groups of its puppet "republics" in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and with its policy towards non-Russian ethnic groups in occupied Crimea. 

In April 2017, the Court issued an interim decision, obliging Russia not to limit the ability of the Crimean Tatars to maintain their representative institutions, including the Mejlis, and to ensure the availability of education in the Ukrainian language. 

In November 2019, the Court rejected all of Russia's arguments regarding the jurisdiction of the court and the admissibility of the case, which was a complete victory for Ukraine at that stage of the proceedings. 

Hearings on this lawsuit lasted from 6 to 14 June 2023.