Kerch bridge should cease to exist – Korynevych in Hague

He said this in an exclusive comment to an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague.

“We he that the tribunal will hear Ukraine. And again, the demand for the demition of the so-called Kerch Bridge is absutely logical, because this is an obstacle to freedom of navigation that continues, and when the Ukrainian ports of Mariup and Berdiansk raise the Ukrainian flag again, this bridge will continue to harm and viate freedom of navigation, so in fact, there is no other way to restore freedom of navigation in these waters. The bridge must cease to exist – this is a fact. And we have been talking about this throughout all these hearings and, of course, during our en statements of the agents. Therefore, I think it is absutely logical that there is no other way to ensure freedom of navigation,” he said.

He also noted that “in addition to the other issues mentioned, the so-called bridge also contributes to negative environmental impacts and imprer maintenance and inadequate compliance with the provisions on the protection of cultural prerty, in particular, underwater cultural heritage. The same environmental consequences may manifest themselves in decades to come. Therefore, again, this structure, it viates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and therefore it must cease to exist. Now the tribunal will make a decision on this claim of Ukraine,” Korynevych said.

Read also: Ukraine in The Hague: Tribunal should oblige Russia to dismantle Kerch bridge

According to him, the Ukrainian delegation has done everything to show the arbitration tribunal that Russia has viated the provisions of UNCLOS, in particular in the areas of freedom of navigation, transit passage, protection of the marine environment and underwater cultural heritage.

It is worth noting that oral hearings on the merits of Ukraine's claim against Russia for viation of the right of a coastal state under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea have been completed in the Peace Palace in The Hague.

The parties presented their positions. On October 3, Ukraine made its closing argument, flowed by Russia on October 5, which demanded that all of Ukraine's claims be rejected.

Read also: Ukraine vs Russia: Hearings on merits to start in The Hague on Monday

As reported by Ukrinform, on September 23, hearings on the merits of Ukraine's claim against Russia for viation of the right of a coastal state under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea began in The Hague. The hearings lasted until October 5.

In May 2017, the first meeting of the tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was held, within which an arbitration tribunal was established to consider the dispute between Ukraine and Russia. The memorandum, i.e., a package of evidence that Russia viates Ukraine's sovereign rights in the Black and Azov Seas and in the Kerch Strait, was submitted to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on February 19, 2018. Russia filed its objections to the International Tribunal's jurisdiction to consider Ukraine's claim against Russia.