Unsurprisingly, Russia refused to appear on Monday at the opening of hearings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The context ? A procedure initiated by Ukraine, which asks the highest court of the UN to order Moscow to stop its invasion. “The court deplores the non-appearance of the Russian Federation during these oral proceedings,” said Joan Donoghue, presiding judge of the ICJ.
The empty Russian seats
Alexander Shulgin, the Russian ambassador to the Netherlands, where the court sits, indicated that the Russian government did not intend to participate in the oral proceedings, she said. “The fact that the seats that Russia was supposed to occupy are empty says a lot,” said Anton Korynevich, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the court. “They are not here in front of this court, they are on the battlefields, waging an aggressive war against my country,” he added. “This is how Russia settles its differences,” he continued.
Urgent measures against Russia
Kiev filed a request more than a week ago before the ICJ, which sits in The Hague (Netherlands), a few days after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Ukraine is asking the UN’s highest court for urgent action ordering Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine, before deciding on the merits of the case, which could take years. The ICJ has a “responsibility to act”, raised Anton Korynevich.