On 31 January, the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced the final ruling in Ukraine’s so-called Big Case against Russia, which included accusations of financing terrorism.

The complaint was filed in respect of Russia’s violation of two international conventions: on the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The accusations concerned incidents that took place in 2015-2017.

In the ICJ verdict, announced by court president Joan Donoghue, Russia was found guilty of violating the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism under one article (Article 9). The ICJ stated that Russia had failed to fulfil its obligations with respect to the investigation of cases of financing terrorism, which Ukraine has pointed out many times.

However, the ICJ found no grounds for most of Ukraine’s accusations against Russia.

The key problem is that the ICJ chose to take a conservative approach to the interpretation of the Convention and decided that the financing of terrorism, according to the Convention, refers only to the transfer of monetary funds and does not encompass providing militants with military equipment and weapons. So the supply of a Buk missile system, for instance, is not subject to this ban.

In conclusion, this means that the ICJ has found Russia partially guilty of violating the International Convention for Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

European Pravda is also working on an in-depth article about this case, to be published shortly.

Read more about the case: UN court issues first ruling against the Kremlin. What to expect and what not to