The Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified in a statement on its website: “The Russian Federation has withdrawn from the arbitration process under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 regarding the detention of three Ukrainian warships in the Black Sea in November 2018. The withdrawal is due to serious procedural violations during the proceedings and the unlawful formation of the arbitration panel.” As the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated, the Russian side participated in the proceedings in good faith, but the case will be reviewed by arbitrators appointed unlawfully and with political motives without the participation of the Russian Federation, and therefore, Russia will not accept the results of the proceedings.
In November 2018, three Ukrainian navy ships violated the Russian border, entered the temporarily closed territorial waters of the Russian Federation, and moved from the Black Sea. These ships conducted dangerous maneuvers and did not comply with the lawful demands of the Russian authorities. The ships carrying military personnel were detained. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a provocation.
On September 7, 2019, the military personnel who violated the border were handed over to Ukraine under agreements and were convicted. On November 18, Russia handed the detained ships over to Ukraine. In 2019, Ukraine filed a case with the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague regarding this incident. In this lawsuit, Kyiv demands recognition of Russia’s violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982. In response, the Russian side presented its legal objections.
