KIEV, May 22. /TASS/. Ukraine has filed a memorandum into an international court of arbitration, seeking to receive compensation from Russia over the Kerch Strait incident, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced in its Twitter Friday.

"Today, Ukraine has filed its memorandum on Ukraine vs. Russia case concerning apprehension of military ships and their crews in November 2018," the message says.

Earlier Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister signed the memorandum, and before that, by order of President Vladimir Zelensky, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin and Ukrainian Ambassador to the Netherlands were tasked with representing Ukraine in the UN international court and international courts of arbitration in cases against Russia.

Multi-million lawsuit

In his May 18 interview for Radio Liberty, Yenin announced that Kiev will file a lawsuit against Russia to an international court of arbitration over the Kerch Strait incident. Later, he explained that the bulk of the lawsuit is "justification of material and moral damage to the Ukrainian sailors, who were illegally held captive in Russia for nine months."

Besides, the lawsuit speaks about "compensation to the Ukrainian Navy for damages inflicted to the Ukrainian ships during their capture, and for losses due to Russia’s barbaric treatment of the mentioned property," as well as "compensation for losses, sustained because the Ukrainian Navy was unable to use the three ships for a while."

The Deputy Foreign Minister noted that the compensation amounts to several millions of dollars, but did not name a specific sum.

According to Yenin, after the filing of the memorandum, Russia will have until August 22 to convey its preliminary objections regarding the court jurisdiction. The ruling on jurisdiction could be made in fall 2021, the substantial hearings may begin in a year after that, and the ruling is to be expected by mid-2023, Deputy Foreign Minister says.

On November 25, 2018, three Ukrainian Navy’s ships violated the procedure of entering Russian territorial waters for military ships during their march from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. The ships were apprehended and their 24 sailors were arrested. The sailors returned home after an exchange of the detained citizens between Russia and Ukraine which took place on September 7, 2019.