MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Kiev’s lawsuit filed at the UN International Court against Russia over alleged violations of conventions on resistance to the financing of terrorism and the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination pursues time-serving political interests, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary on Tuesday.
"The lawsuit against Russia at the UN International Court has only time-serving political aims," the Foreign Ministry said. "Russia is going to use all means of legal protection available to it."
A more detailed commentary may follow after the procedural documents have been studied more closely.
No dialog
Russia has always condemned any manifestation of terrorism and proactively fought with it, the Foreign Ministry said.
"Naturally, we have scrupulously observed our liabilities in that sphere. Russia was invariably sincere in its attempts to look into the essence of Ukraine’s complaints and it diligently carried out checks following Kiev's statements, but it has always encountered the Ukrainian authorities’ firm reluctance to conduct a meaningful dialog and, eventually, unilateral disruption of consultations by the Ukrainian side," the commentary runs.
"The idea of a neutral inquiry by an international court of arbitration that might produce clarity was not to Kiev’s liking, either. Apparently, Ukraine’s main aim, if not the sole one, was to not settle certain differences, but to find an excuse for taking Russia to an international court," the commentary says.
The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that "Ukraine has failed to provide any proof of its claims there did exist certain circumstances and incidents subject to the Convention."
In connection with Kiev’s lawsuit the Russian Foreign Ministry said once again that Russia was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state which attached great importance to complying with all of its liabilities under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. Inter-ethnic harmony is in the focus of attention of Russian bodies of state power, the Foreign Ministry stated.
"In that connection we take the most serious attitude to all issues that may arise in the process of the Convention’s implementation, whoever may be asking them," the commentary runs.
Kiev’s suit
On Monday, January 16, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry filed a lawsuit against Russia at the UN International Court on President Pyotr Poroshenko’s instructions to charge Moscow with violating two conventions. One is on the resistance to the financing of terrorism "by providing weapons and other assistance to illegal armed groups that have committed a number of acts of terrorism in Ukrainian territory." Also, the Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It argues that Russia participates "in a campaign of discrimination against non-Russian communities in the occupied territory of the Crimean Peninsula, in particular, the communities of ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars.".