MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. The International Court of Justice of the United Nations turned down Ukraine’s lawsuit seeking compensation over alleged discrimination of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
On January 31, the court pronounced its final verdict on a complaint against Russia, filed by Ukraine in January 2017. The document was based on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
"The court turned down practically all of Ukraine’s demands and recognized that Russia’s policies are in line with the Convention. There is no discrimination against Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The case is closed. Russia was not obliged to undertake any special measures to implement this ruling. All Ukrainian requests for compensation were turned down," the statement says.
On January 16, 2017, Ukraine filed a claim with the ICJ accusing Russia of violating the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. As part of the case, the Ukrainian side attempted to portray the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR) as terrorist organizations, whom Russia supported both financially and militarily. With regard to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Kiev government claimed that Russia was deliberately discriminating Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in Crimea. Russia strongly rejected all accusations.