ST. PETERSBURG, June 27. /TASS/. The Russian side will present evidence of Kiev's genocide in Donbass to the UN International Court of Justice, Gennady Kuzmin, Ambassador-at-Large and Russia’s UN International Court of Justice envoy, said.

"The [UN] International Court of Justice has decided to consider whether or not Ukraine has committed genocide in Donbass. Thus, Ukraine not only failed [on the issue of accusing Russia under the articles of the Genocide Convention], similarly to the Georgian fiasco, but while still being a plaintiff, found itself in the defendant’s seat," the diplomat pointed out. "Now we have to provide the court with evidence that the Kiev regime committed acts of genocide [in Donbass], which we plan to do in the near future," the envoy emphasized.

Kuzmin recalled that in 2022, Ukraine launched another round of legal warfare against Russia in connection with the launch of the special military operation. "The [Genocide] Convention was chosen by Ukraine as the easiest way to invoke the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, as it does not even imply judicial negotiation processes to settle the dispute, that is, the claim can be sent directly to the International Court of Justice," he emphasized.

However, despite all the claims of the Ukrainian side, the UN International Court of Justice issued a decision on jurisdiction in which it agreed with the Russian side's argument that "the recognition of the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics was made within the framework of the right of the nation to self-determination, and the special military operation has nothing to do with the Genocide Convention."

Ukraine’s case against Russia

On February 26, immediately after the start of Russia’s special military operation, Ukraine filed a complaint with the UN International Court of Justice on the interpretation, application and implementation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In it, Kiev denies that genocide took place in Donbass, which served as one of the reasons for Russia's recognition of the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics and the start of the special military operation. Russia challenged the admissibility of the complaint and the court’s jurisdiction over the case.

On February 2, the UN International Court of Justice ruled that it had jurisdiction over the case, but significantly narrowed the scope of the issues under consideration. In particular, the court concluded that its jurisdiction did not include consideration of whether Russia’s use of force against Ukraine and recognition of the independence of the DPR and the LPR violated the Genocide Convention. The court found admissible only the part of the lawsuit in which the Ukrainian side demands to "recognize and declare that there is no credible evidence that Ukraine is responsible for committing genocide" in Donbass in violation of the Convention.