The Russian Foreign Ministry on the Complaint to the ECHR: Ukraine Left No Choice

Russia has filed the first interstate complaint with the ECHR against Ukraine, while Ukraine has already filed nine such complaints against Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that a complaint to the ECHR against Ukraine had been brewing for a long time, Kyiv did not leave Moscow a choice. This is stated in a statement on the website of the diplomatic service on Thursday, July 22. "This step is long overdue. The current situation in Ukraine leaves Russia no choice but to involve international courts," the department said. "We are referring to the discrimination against the Russian-speaking population, including their deprivation of educational rights; the persecution of journalists and the media; the regular atrocities perpetrated against Donbass residents during the so-called antiterrorist operation carried out by Kiev against its own population, as well as the disastrous consequences of the Kiev regime's actions against the population of Russian border regions, such as the water embargo of Crimea, as well as of other states - Ukraine was responsible for the MH17 crash through its failure to shut down its airspace. All the claims against Ukraine made in the Russian case are supported by a solid body of evidence that has been accumulated over the years," the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled. They argue that the Russian Federation has all the legal grounds to initiate a process in the ECHR, since it advocates for the European legal order. Moscow expects an impartial and non-politicized attitude of the court to the complaint, as well as a thorough examination by the court of the materials and evidence presented by the claimant state. Note that since the entry into force of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1953, less than 30 interstate complaints have been filed with the ECHR. Four such complaints were filed against Russia by Georgia and nine by Ukraine. In particular, the ECHR in January, by a majority vote, recognized Ukraine's claim against Russia over the Crimea annexation as partially admissible and declared its readiness to consider it on the merits.