The International Court of Justice in The Hague rejected a portion of the Ukraine against Russia case but there was still substantial action in response to Russia’s behavior after the annexation of Crimea and the 2014 conflict in Donbas. The court found that Moscow violated certain provisions of international law supported by the United Nations, including aspects related to discrimination and terrorism, though it did not mandate compensation to Ukraine and did not rule on the 2014 downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane by a Russian anti-aircraft system.
The case, opened in 2017, accused Russia of breaches across multiple international agreements. It asserted that Russia financed and supported rebel activity and discriminated against the Ukrainian population in Crimea after its annexation. In the first issue, the ICJ accepted that Moscow violated the funding provisions tied to financing terrorist activities and ordered Moscow to conduct a thorough investigation into the transfer of funds from Russia used to support such activities. On the second issue, the court acknowledged discrimination against the Ukrainian language but rejected separate claims of discrimination against the Tatar minority on the peninsula, noting that harsh repression and deportations had occurred during the Soviet era but that those historical actions did not automatically translate into present-day discrimination in this context.
Malaysian plane
The court regarding the downing of the Malaysian plane in eastern Ukraine refrained from a definitive ruling, stating that the shipment of arms could not be clearly classified as terrorist financing. In November 2022, a Dutch court sentenced two Russian citizens and a Ukrainian in absentia to life imprisonment, finding that the missile used in the incident originated from a Russian anti-aircraft battery and that the ammunition was illicitly transported from Russian territory into Ukraine.
This marks the ICJ’s second major decision related to the Ukraine war. In March 2022, the court ordered Russia to cease its military operations in Ukraine, outlining Moscow’s stated rationale that Kyiv posed a threat in the eastern regions. Looking ahead, a ruling was anticipated on a separate Kiev filing alleging that Ukraine incorrectly invoked the Genocide Convention of 1948 to justify actions in the conflict. While ICJ decisions carry moral and legal weight, the court has limited power to enforce its judgments.