The International Court of Justice issued a mixed ruling on Kyiv's terrorism-financing complaint against Russia over Moscow's activities in eastern Ukraine and on "racial discrimination" by Russia after it illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
The Hague-based court said on January 31 that, while Moscow had violated the United Nations anti-discrimination treaties by failing to protect education in the Ukrainian language in Crimea, it didn't agree with Kyiv's claim that it was due compensation from Russia. The court also rejected Ukraine's claims of Russia's discrimination against ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians after its annexation of Crimea.
In total, the ICJ agreed with Ukraine that Moscow violated two articles of the treaties, but rejected several others.
Kyiv had alleged that Moscow breached a treaty on terrorism financing by arming and supporting pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
It also charged that Russia-installed authorities have been suppressing the rights of ethnic Tatars and other minorities since Moscow occupied and illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Kyiv was looking for the ruling to set a precedent that would impact other cases filed against Russia in connection with its activities on Ukrainian territory.
Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.
Ukraine asked the court to order Moscow to stop financing separatists in eastern Ukraine and to pay compensation for attacks -- including the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 passengers and crew on board.
Russia denies involvement in the downing of the passenger jet. But a Dutch-led international investigation concluded that the plane was shot down by a Russian Buk missile launcher positioned in separatist-controlled territory.
Its lawyers had also urged the ICJ to reject the case by saying that the actions of pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine did not amount to terrorism.
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine with the two sides now locked in a war that has seen tens of thousands killed on both sides.
