The Russian defense team of 24 Ukrainian sailors arrested after the incident in the Kerch Strait expects that the ruling of the United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on their release and return home will be implemented despite the Russian authorities’ official stance of non-recognition, lawyer Ilya Novikov told Interfax.
“The court required Russia to release the sailors and return the ships to Ukraine promptly. In light of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s stance, we expect loud statements that this decision is not recognized and is not enforced, but hope that a way to implement it de facto would be found,” Novikov, one of the Ukrainian sailor’s Russian lawyers, said.
“If an independent investigator comes to a conclusion without assistance or as though without assistance that there’s no element of the crime and the criminal case will be closed, that will do for us. If some compromise option in Russia’s view is found, that will be okay,” the lawyer said.
