The Washington Post - 09.11.2019

A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAy, NOVEMbER 9 , 2019

reparations or order o ther sorts of

remedies. Countries are bound by

its d ecisions, b ut they can b e over-

turned by the U.N. Security Coun-

cil — of which Russia is a perma-

nent member.

The Crimean Ta tars are a Mus-

lim group that has lived there

since before Russian expansion

into the peninsula in the 1700s.

They were brutally suppressed

and exiled to Asia by Stalin and

had enjoyed more autonomy un-

der Ukrainian rule — from 1991 to

2014 — t han at a ny t ime before.

They have become the most vo-

cal dissidents against Moscow in

that region and have suffered ha-

rassment and arrests. Kyiv also

argues that ethnic Ukrainians

who have refused to identify as

Russian citizens h ave been subject

to discrimination.

In addition to arguing that the

court does not have jurisdiction,

Russia claimed that Ukraine had

not exhausted other potential

remedies, including negotiations

or arbitration. But the c ourt n oted

that Kyiv had delivered notice to

Moscow in 2014 on both allega-

tions and that the two sides had

formally discussed the matters at

meetings in Minsk, Belarus, but

that “little p rogress was made.”

[email protected]

BY WILL ENGLUND

moscow — An international
court r uled Friday that it has juris-
diction to hear Ukraine’s allega-
tions against Russia linked to
Moscow’s annexation of Crimea
and the conflict in separatist re-
gions of eastern U kraine.
It w as just one round i n a case a t
the International Court of Justice
in The Hague, but Russia had
sought to have Ukraine’s com-
plaint tossed out. It comes even as

tentative steps toward a disen-

gagement of fighters in the war in

the east have taken place, over the

objections of protesters in Kyiv.

R ussia, meanwhile, has been

looking for new leverage against

Ukraine, weakened by its unwill-

ing involvement in the latest

American scandal.

Now the judges will hear the

substance of the Ukrainian case.

The allegations stem from the

Russian seizure of Crimea in the

spring of 2014 and sponsorship of

a separatist rebellion that began

immediately after, one that has

killed 13,000 p eople.

Ukraine argues that Russian

authorities w ho assumed p ower in

Crimea have been discriminating

against C rimean Ta tars and ethnic

Ukrainians, and it has consistent-

ly labeled the pro-Moscow sepa-

ratist fighters in the Donetsk and

Luhansk r egions a s “terrorists.”

Both allegations are covered by

international pacts that Ukraine

and Russia have signed: the Inter-

national Convention for the Sup-

pression of the Financing of Ter-

rorism and the International Con-

vention on the Elimination of All

Forms o f Racial Discrimination.

Russia has denied the allega-

tions — despite considerable evi-

dence. T he Kremlin c laims it is not

involved in the conflict in eastern

Ukraine and says minority rights

in the country a re not infringed.

The court, affiliated with the

United N ations, c an d irect defend-

ing nations to pay damages or

U.N. court clears w ay to hear U kraine-Russia case

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