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Photo from website president.gov.ua
President Petro Poroshenko has ordered the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olena Zerkal, to represent Ukraine in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, under the UN Convention.
Zerkal will argue against Russia’s violation of Ukrainian sovereign rights in the Black Sea, the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait.
Zerkal said that the memorandum, which will be handed over to The Hague today, sets out the legal framework for the claims regarding the violation of Ukraine’s rights, according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“In fact, we are building a new paradigm of relations with Russia, which will be based exclusively on legal principles,” Zerkal said.
Poroshenko said that the economic interests of Ukraine are seriously damaged by the illegal extraction of mineral resources, and significant negative environmental, infrastructure and transportation costs of the construction of the Kerch Strait without Ukraine’s permission.
Poroshenko separately emphasized that “it is not about the consideration of the question of Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea. This question is firm, unconditional and nobody casts doubts on it. It is about the fact that we must protect not only the economic interests of the Ukrainian state in every direction, but also private investors, whose property in Crimea were confiscated.”
