Ukraine expects decision on case of viation of Maritime Convention within 9-12 months

Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Anton Korynevych said this in an exclusive comment to an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague.

“If we look at the practice of such cases, then, in principle, it can take nine months or more from the end of the last hearing on the merits of the case to the adtion of the relevant decision of the arbitral tribunal. So we think that, conditionally, we may have a final award in this case within nine months or a year. But these are just predictions. We, of course, have no influence on the arbitration tribunal and cannot know for sure when the decision will be made,” he said.

It is worth noting that the case is currently under consideration on the merits. In September 2016, Ukraine initiated separate proceedings against Russia for its viation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and seeks to confirm Ukraine's rights in the Black and Azov Seas and the Kerch Strait through arbitration.

“First of all, it is very important that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea applies to such spaces as, in particular, the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, that the Azov Sea cannot be considered inland waters in any way,” said Korynevych.

He emphasized that “the Kerch Strait is, accordingly, an international strait, and the Russian Federation cannot and should not, and it is unlawful and illegal, when the Russian Federation considers the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait to be a conditionally inland lake or internal spaces of the Russian Federation.”

Korynevych emphasized that the Russian Federation viates and has viated many provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in particular, freedom of navigation and transit passage, protection of the natural environment, marine environment, and protection of underwater cultural heritage.

Read also: Ukraine in The Hague: Kerch Bridge restricts international shipping, it must come down

The Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasized the illegality of the so-called Kerch Bridge: “It is illegal, unlawful from the point of view of international law, and therefore it must not exist. It must be dismantled in order to return the navigation regime in the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov to the state it was in before the temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevast by the Russian Federation. And, accordingly, to the way this so-called structure was built by the Russian Federation.”

As reported by Ukrinform, on September 23, at 10:00 a.m. local time, 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 Peace Palace in The Hague. The hearings will last 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 the framework of 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 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.