Ukraine v. Russia: ITLOS to hold first hearing on November 21

"While the Nikopol, the Berdyansk and the Yany Kapu ships are heading home to Odesa, the Foreign Ministry team is heading to The Hague, where the first ITLOS hearings on the violation of immunity of three Ukrainian ships and 24 crewmembers (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held on Thursday," Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal posted on Facebook.

Zerkal recalled that Ukraine started the struggle for return of captured sailors and ships since the moment of illegal seizure, and on April 1, 2018, informed the Russian Federation about the dispute under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as the seizure and detention of Ukrainian naval vessels and their crewmembers is a grave violation of the immunity of warships guaranteed by the rules of customary and maritime law.

Zerkal noted that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea obliged Russia to release 24 seamen and three ships and allow them to return to Ukraine on May 25, 2019.

"However, the order of the International Tribunal has not been an end in itself. Our purpose is to record a violation of the right, restore the right and get adequate compensation. This is laid in the Foreign Ministry lawsuit of April 1, 2019... We intend to go this way and prove to the world and the tribunal that the passage of November 25, 2018 was peaceful and legal and that the Russian Federation's actions, including the prosecution of our sailors, are a violation of international law," the Deputy Minister summarized.

As reported, on November 25, 2018, Russian border guards fired on and seized three Ukrainian Navy ships, the Berdyansk, the Nikopol, and the Yany Kapu, heading from Odesa to Mariupol, near the Kerch Strait. In addition, their crewmembers, 24 Ukrainian sailors, were captured. Three of them were wounded. A Russian-controlled court in the occupied Crimea arrested all the detained Ukrainian sailors on charges of alleged illegal border crossing.

On May 25, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered Russia to immediately release 24 seamen and three ships and allow them to return to Ukraine.

On September 7, Ukraine and Russia exchanged detainees in the 35-for-35 format. Twenty-four Ukrainian seamen returned home as part of the exchange.

On November 16, Assistant to the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak announced the final stage of the return of three ships to Ukraine.

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