Russia called on the UN's highest court in The Hague on September 18 to dismiss what it said was a “hopelessly flawed” case challenging Moscow's argument that its invasion of Ukraine was carried out to prevent genocide.
The Russian request was made at the start of preliminary hearings on the case brought by Ukraine against Russia days after the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Kyiv argues Moscow is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine says there was no risk of genocide in eastern Ukraine, where it had been fighting Russian-backed forces since 2014, and that the genocide treaty does not allow an invasion to stop an alleged genocide.
Kyiv also accuses Russia of “planning acts of genocide in Ukraine” and of “intentionally killing and inflicting serious injury on members of the Ukrainian nationality”, thus committing genocide itself.
Russian officials continue to accuse Ukraine of committing genocide without providing evidence of such alleged crimes. Moscow says Ukraine is using the case before the UN’s top court as a roundabout way to get a ruling on the overall legality of Russia's military actions.
The hearings, set to run until September 27, will focus on legal arguments about the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), not the case on its merits.
Russia claims that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction and says that the case should be dismissed.
Russia’s representative Gennady Kuzmin told the court on September 18 that “Ukraine's legal position is hopelessly flawed”. He claims that, if Ukraine insists that no genocide has occurred, “there cannot be a violation” of the UN’s Genocide Convention and thus the case must be dismissed.
On September 19, Ukraine will present arguments on why the court has jurisdiction to have the case continue. The court will also hear from 32 other states, all supporting Ukraine's argument that the court has jurisdiction to move the case forward.
In March 2022, the ICJ sided with Ukraine, ordering Russia to “immediately suspend” its military action.
SEE ALSO: UN's Top Court Orders Russia To Halt Invasion Of UkraineRussia has so far ignored the court’s order to stop the invasion.
Earlier in 2023 the court admitted requests by 32 of Ukraine's allies to join the case on Kyiv’s side. Those include all European Union member states except Hungary, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other allies of Ukraine, but not the United States.
The Hague-based ICJ was created after World War II to resolve legal complaints submitted by states over alleged breaches of international law. It is the supreme judicial institution of the United Nations. The rulings of the ICJ are binding but it has no direct means of enforcing them.
Experts quoted by Reuters said a ruling in Kyiv's favor would not stop the war but could impact future reparation payments.