THE HAGUE, June 8. /TASS/. Russia’s representative at the International Court of Justice, Gennady Kuzmin, on Thursday said Ukraine’s accusations that Russia is funding terrorism are false and absurd.

He also said in a speech during a hearing at the court that the accusations have no legal basis, according to a TASS reporter in the courtroom.

"Ukraine is trying to mislead the court with false or incomplete information," Kuzmin said. "The biggest of Ukraine’s lies is probably that people fighting for survival are terrorists."

As examples, the Russian representative cited several incidents in which innocent civilians in Donbass were killed as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

"Ukraine's accusations of financing terrorism are even more absurd considering that Ukraine continues to trade in coal, steel, and even weapons with the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics," he went on to say.

Russia "had no reason to trust Ukraine that the DPR and the LPR are terrorist organizations", he said. None of the incidents mentioned in the Ukrainian lawsuit "can be considered acts of terrorism," he continued.

On January 16, 2017, Ukraine filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice against Russia, accusing it 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. The hearings on the case are taking place from June 6 to 14.

Ukraine is using the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism to build a case that the DPR and the LPR Donetsk are terrorist organizations and that Russia financed them, including by supplying weapons.