Russia hit out at Ukraine at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday, as the two warring countries squared off in a legal case over Moscow\u2019s claim that \u201cgenocide\u201d in eastern Ukraine was a pretext for last year\u2019s invasion. Moscow\u2019s representative, Gennady Kuzmin, said Ukraine\u2019s case that Russia \u201cabused\u201d the United Nations Genocide Convention as a reason to launch its war against its neighbour in February 2022 \u201ccouldn\u2019t be further from the truth\u201d. When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24 last year, part of his reasoning was that pro-Russian people in eastern Ukraine had been \u201csubjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime\u201d. Two days into the invasion, Ukraine filed a suit at the ICJ, \u201cemphatically denying\u201d this and arguing that Russia\u2019s use of \u201cgenocide\u201d as a pretext went against the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. Mere \u201cstatements\u201d about genocide are not admissible under international law including the Genocide Convention, Kuzmin contended. Sitting only metres from the Ukrainian delegation, Kuzmin said: \u201cAs to expressions of concerns regarding the threat of genocide, they were unsurprising considering the policies of Kyiv regime, which were firmly entrenched in the history, doctrines and practices of Nazism.\u201d Ukraine\u2019s legal position is \u201chopelessly flawed\u201d and \u201cat odds with the longstanding jurisprudence\u201d of the court, he concluded. The case, being heard in the sumptuous Peace Palace in The Hague, is over whether the top UN court has the jurisdiction to order a halt to Russia\u2019s ongoing military action. Kuzmin urged the court to throw out the case, arguing that the UN Genocide Convention is about the \u201cprevention and punishment\u201d of genocide, neither of which apply to Ukraine\u2019s case. \u201cUkraine is not accusing Russia of committing genocide. Ukraine is also not accusing Russia of failing to prevent or punish genocide,\u201d he argued. \u201cOn the contrary, Ukraine insists no genocide has occurred. That alone should be enough to reject the case because [\u2026] if there was no genocide there cannot be a violation of the Genocide Convention.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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