Today, the International Court of Justice informed the Agent of Ukraine – Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal on its position regarding implementation by the Russian Federation the Court’s Order of 19 April 2017 indicating provisional measures in the case Application of the of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation).

In that Order, the Court required Russia to “refrain from maintaining or imposing limitations on the ability of the Crimean Tatar community to conserve its representative institutions, including the Mejlis.”

As it is known Russia arrogantly violated this order and failed to lift its ban on the Mejlis, first imposed in April 2016 and even though the attempts of Mejlis and some of its members in 2017 to take measures to fulfill this Order in accordance with the Russian Federation jurisdiction.

In letters to the Parties today, the Court has reaffirmed the binding nature of its Order and directed Russia to report on concrete steps taken to implement it by 18 January 2019. According to the statement of MFA of Ukraine on this issue, Continued defiance by Russia of the World Court’s binding orders will not be accepted.  Ukraine calls upon the Russian Federation to live up to its international obligations by promptly suspending its ban on the Mejlis, as required by the Court’s original Order in 2017 and its reaffirmation of that Order today.