Russia Denies Ukraine Allegations Regarding Crimea and MH17 Tragedy at International Court

JAKARTA - Russia on Thursday denied Ukraine's accusations that it supported pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, discriminating against ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, accusing Kyiv of "blatant lies" at the UN supreme court.

Ukraine has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague, Netherlands to order Russia to stop allegations of discrimination against ethnic Tatars in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula occupied by Russia since 2014.

"Ukraine continues to carry out lies and false accusations leveled against the Russian federation," Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands Alexander Shulgin said on the second day of hearings at the ICJ, reported by Reuters, June 9.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said.

In the same case, a panel of 16 judges at the ICJ this week began hearing Ukraine's assertion that Moscow violated UN counter-terrorism treaties by equipping and funding pro-Russian forces, including the militia that shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, killing them. 298 passengers and crew in 2014.

Last November, a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist in absentia for their roles and sentenced him to life in prison. The court found Russia had "complete control" over the separatist forces.

Russia rejected what it called a "shameful" decision by a Dutch court. On Thursday, Russian Ambassador to the ICJ Gennady Kuzmin told the ICJ that the Dutch decision was biased against the separatist forces in the Donesk region.

"In the end, the MH17 Ukraine case boils down to nonsense," Kuzmin said.

The hearing in the case at the ICJ, which began in 2017, marks the first time Ukrainian and Russian lawyers have met at the ICJ since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

On Day One of the hearing, Ukraine accused Russia of being a terrorist state that knowingly financed and equipped pro-Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine, trying to eradicate the ethnic Tatar and Ukrainian culture of Crimea.

Russia denies it has committed systematic human rights violations in occupied Ukraine.

Ukraine has a chance to answer Russia's case next week. The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, is expected to decide the entire case before the end of this year.

The ICJ is known to be the UN's highest court for disputes between countries and its decisions are binding but has no enforcement mechanism.