ECHR denies Russian interim claims on Ukraine

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on July 23
denied an urgent request filed by the Russian Federation as part of the suit filed
against Ukraine on July 22. The urgent request included, among others, the
unblocking of the North Crimea Canal and Russian language use. The ECHR denied
the urgent request due as “it did not involve a serious risk of irreparable
harm of a core right under the European Convention on Human Rights,” the court
stated in a press release.

The case filing comes, according to commentary on
rferl.org on July 22, as part of a Russian attempt to flood the ECHR with cases
against Ukraine. Russia’s accusations against Ukraine range from issues related
to the Revolution of Dignity to Ukraine’s role in failing to prevent the MH-17
tragedy to shelling Russia in 2014.

James Hydzik: Russia’s attempt to flood the court has been called by commentators as
a move to tie up the courts and create bad press, or, in the worst case, a
result of having bought off judges. Another possibility is to induce Ukraine
fatigue ahead of expected lawsuits by Ukraine and its closest EU partners, once
the Nord Stream II pipeline is finished. Court cases are expected, as Atlantic
Council pointed out over the weekend, and the path forward for Gazprom in
getting Nord Stream II certified is seen as difficult. The harder Gazprom
pushes to certify the pipeline, the harder it will be to make its case that
this is simply an economic matter, and the ECHR effort is aimed at drawing away
both resources and attention.