Russia filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on July 22, accusing Ukraine of the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down by Russian-sponsored militants, and a laundry list of other bogus claims.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office dismissed the complaint as a cynical ploy to hold Ukraine responsible for Russia’s own atrocities.
“Russia, as an occupying country that controls the occupied land, is fully responsible for the situation on those territories,” Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the head of the President’s Office, told publication Ukrainska Pravda.
Podoliak said that if the ECHR rules against Russia, it will give it an excuse to launch a propaganda campaign to discredit the court itself.
“If anyone needed a standard of political cynicism, it is in the form of similar actions by Russia.”
The Russian complaint lists 10 alleged causes of action:
- The deaths of protesters in a fire at the House of Trade Unions in Odesa, for which Russia frequently accuses Ukraine’s security services. The ECHR complaint also accused Ukraine of killing people during the war in Donbas, which Russia started by invading Ukraine. Russian-sponsored militants have killed close to 14,000 people.
- Banning the work of Russian media and journalists. After Russia invaded, Ukraine banned Russian TV channels and social media in the country.
- Discrimination against the Russian-speaking population and pushing the Russian language from the public sphere. This is a common refrain in reference to Ukraine’s language law, which makes Ukrainian the default language in schools, businesses and television.
- Discrimination against Russian business.
- Death of people and destruction of property as a result of “shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine” of the adjacent territory of Russia. Russian-backed militants often shell and shoot Ukrainian positions on a daily basis, in violation of ceasefire, killing dozens of military service members.
- Depriving residents of the militant-occupied territories opportunities to participate in elections. In fact, militants have formed repressive local “governments” that do not let the local residents leave the occupied territory, let alone participate in Ukrainian elections.
- Blocking the North Crimean Canal, the main source of fresh water to Crimea. Ukraine never blocked any natural watercourse or river to Crimea, merely suspended the artificial water preference that had been built to accelerate the economic development of the peninsula.
- Attacks on Russian diplomatic missions. Protesters in Ukraine occasionally threw objects at Russian embassies.
- The destruction of flight MH17 due the Ukrainian authorities’ refusal to close the airspace over the combat zone in 2014. Russian-backed militants used a Russian surface-to-air missile to shoot down the aircraft over Eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
- Refusal to provide legal assistance to Russian authorities investigating “committed crimes.”
Russia requested for the ECHR to take measures to make Ukraine “immediately stop such blatant violations.”
Earlier, on January 14, the ECHR accepted a Ukrainian complaint against Russia, accusing it of human rights violations on the Crimean Peninsula, where people are frequently detained for exercising speech.
The complaint is still undergoing a lengthy pre-trial process.
