Ukraine submits evidence of Russian crimes to UN court

The Ukrainian government submitted on June 12 evidence
of Russia’s alleged financing of terrorism in Donbas and politics of racial
discrimination in Crimea to the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague.
“Today Russia is receiving its special ‘gift’ in the UN international court,”
said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, referring to June 12 being the
Russia Day holiday. “It weighs about 90 kg, consists of 17,500 pages and fits
29 volumes,” he said, referring to the memorandum of evidence. The evidence
presented is exceptional, commented Ukrainian President Poroshenko on his
Facebook page. “This is being done so that no doubt is left that Russia
committed illegal acts and must carry responsibility for this,” he said.

Recall, Ukraine submitted its criminal complaint to
the UN international court in January 2017 regarding Russia’s alleged
violations of the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing
Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Racial Discrimination. It refers to financing of illegally armed formations in
the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, as well as racially based
persecution against Crimean Tatars in the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula.

Zenon Zawada: We expect Ukraine will have success in this criminal complaint against
the Russian government, which will merely add to the pressure being placed on
President Putin to fulfill the Minsk Accords. In turn, this added pressure will
continue to box Russia into a corner of international isolation, in which Putin
may decide that his only way out is with expanded military aggression that
could extend beyond Ukraine.