Head of Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People on UN court ruling: Russia will see it as indulgence

Refat Chubarov, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, has expressed disappointment with the ruling of the International Court of Justice on Ukraine's claims and believes that Russia will now step up repression against Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea to force the indigenous people out of the peninsula.

Source: Refat Chubarov, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, during the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote: "The court's ruling on Ukraine's two claims under two international conventions is disappointing overall. We have received no clear statement [identifying] Russia as responsible for the violations...

The court acknowledges all the evidence provided by the Ukrainian state regarding the violation of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people – including the ban on the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people – and the violation of the rights of ethnic Ukrainians in Crimea, but it interprets these violations as being related to the political activities of the very same Crimean Tatars – but not caused by their ethnicity.

The court noted that all the repressions in Crimea against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians were caused by political circumstances and recognised Russia as a violator of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination only with regard to its destruction of Ukrainian-medium schools. Indeed, there are none in Crimea.

What will this lead to? Russia will take this as an indulgence to intensify repression and persecution of Crimean Tatars and the entire Crimean Tatar people. They will push the indigenous people out of the peninsula even harder."

Details: Chubarov pointed out that Russian diplomats have become more active as on 1 February, as Maria Zabolotskaya, Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, demanded an apology from Ukraine to the international community for "slandering" Russia.

The head of the Mejlis predicts that the Russians will try to use the UN court's ruling in other international venues.

He believes that with this ruling, they will try to challenge previous resolutions of the UN General Assembly.

Chubarov believes that in the current circumstances, the best "trial" for the Russians is the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Learn more: UN court issues first ruling against the Kremlin. What to expect and what not to

Ukraine claims win over Russia: explaining UN court's ruling on Crimea and Donbas case

Background: On 31 January, the International Court of Justice in The Hague dismissed most of Ukraine's claims against Russia under the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Ukraine filed this lawsuit 7 years ago, on 16 January 2017.

In particular, the UN court found that Ukraine had failed to prove Russia's violation of international law in banning the Mejlis. At the same time, the court acknowledged that Russia had violated its obligations to not discriminate against the Ukrainian minority in the field of education.

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