KIEV (Sputnik) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered the country’s foreign ministry to file arbitration proceedings against Russia for an alleged violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), his spokesman said Wednesday.
"The president instructed the Foreign Ministry to initiate arbitration proceedings against Russia for its violations of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," Svyatoslav Tsegolko said in a Twitter post.
23 August 2016, 12:29 GMT
On August 23, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin announced that Ukraine intends to sue Russia over its alleged violation of the UNCLOS in the "coming days." Poroshenko said the next day Kiev would appeal to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) over what it considers to be Russia's breaches of maritime law in sovereign waters off Crimea.
Crimea became part of Russia after almost 97 percent of those who voted in a local referendum on the issue in 2014 supported the move. Ukraine does not recognize the outcome of the referendum and accuses Russia of annexing the peninsula.
