A few days ago, the International Maritime Tribunal in Hamburg ruled in favor of the Ukrainian lawsuit and ruled that Russia must immediately release 24 sailors who had been captured on three Ukrainian Navy ships last year following an attack by the Russian Coast Guard. The 24 Ukrainians have since then been in Russian jail. Russia has not participated in the trial in Hamburg. The Russian leadership tried to ignore the tribunal. The Ukrainian side received applause from all over the world for its success in court. The applause was especially meant for (and rightly so) the work of Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal. Now rumors say that Russia is preparing to release the Ukrainian sailors. That would be a great pleasure and relief. But that would also show how important the international solidarity campaign and the International Maritime Law Tribunal were for the captured sailors.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Ukraine-European Union Relations
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Rebecca Harms: Germany, France should not support Russia’s return to PACE
A man holds a placard depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiling, and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipe-line, during a rally in front of the German embassy in Kyiv, on April 11, 2019.
