UN Rejects Ukraine’s Call to Order Russia to Stop Supporting Rebels

No Basis for Such an Order Under Treaties

UN judges at the Hague today rejected calls by the Ukrainian government to order Russia to stop supporting secessionist rebels in eastern Ukraine, saying that there is no treaty requirement which would provide a basis for making such an order.

Ukraine had argued that global treaties on terrorism would apply to the case, but the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to claim that Russia would have any reason to believe the rebels might commit terrorist acts against the government.

The Ukrainian government has been labeling the rebels, mostly ethnic Russians, as terrorists from the start of the eastern civil war, which was launched when the rebels attempted to secede after a 2014 regime change in the western capital led to attempts by the government to eliminate Russian as an official language, and restricting economically vital trade along the Russiian border.

The court did, however, agree with Ukraine’s call to require Russia to continue education in Ukrainian language for ethnic Tatars in the Crimean Peninsula. The Tatars are a minority in Crimea, but generally opposed the secession of Crimea from Ukraine, and its accession into the Russian Federation. The Ukrainians claimed not allowing the Tatars to continue education in Ukrainian amounted to ethnic discrimination against them.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.