Russia urges International Court of Justice to dismiss Ukraine genocide claim

On Monday, Russia urged the United Nations’ top court in The Hague to dismiss a case that it claimed was “hopelessly flawed” and disputed Moscow’s claim that its invasion of Ukraine was undertaken to stop genocide. At the outset of hearings addressing the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ), also known as the World Court, jurisdiction, the Russian request was made. Moscow claims that Ukraine used the case as a de facto means of obtaining a decision on the general legitimacy of Russia’s military activity. According to experts, a decision in Kyiv’s favour would not end the war but might have an impact on present and future reparations. Days after the Russian incursion on February 24 of last year, Ukraine filed the lawsuit. Kiev claims that Russia is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine. In eastern Ukraine, where it has been at war with forces backed by Russia since 2014, Ukraine claims there was no risk of genocide, and the genocide treaty forbids an invasion to halt an alleged genocide. Russian authorities continue to charge Ukraine of genocide. Russia said once more on Monday that the “Russophobic and Neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv” was using the 1948 Genocide Convention of the United Nations, to which both nations are parties, as an excuse to “drag” a case before the court. The hearings, which are scheduled to go until September 27, won’t focus on the case’s merits; instead, they’ll examine legal contentions regarding jurisdiction. Genocide, according to the convention, is defined as crimes carried out “with the goal to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” “Ukraine insists no genocide has occurred,” Russia’s agent to the court, Gennady Kuzmin, said in opening remarks. “That alone should be enough to reject the case. Because according to the court’s jurisprudence, if there was no genocide, there cannot be a violation of the Genocide Convention.” In his final statement, Kuzmin argued that “Ukraine’s legal position is hopelessly flawed and at odds with the long-standing jurisprudence of this court” and urged the judges to throw out the case. Ukraine will make its case for why the court should continue hearing the issue on Tuesday. 32 additional nations will also testify before the court, all of whom agree with Ukraine’s claim that the case can be continued on Wednesday. Ukraine has already overcome one obstacle because the court’s March 2016 preliminary ruling in the case was in its favour. On the basis of that, the court ruled that Russia must immediately stop its military operations in Ukraine. Although the ICJ has no mechanism of implementing its rulings—Russia has so far disregarded its instructions to cease its military operations—experts think they could have an impact on how much compensation will be paid following the war. (With agency inputs)