DISINFO: Lawyers refused to defend Ukraine in international court
SUMMARY
No lawyers have yet agreed to defend Ukraine at the hearings at the international public tribunal for the incident in the Kerch Strait.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the Kerch Strait incident. The tribunal in question is actually a local event in Crimea. Ukrainian lawyers refuse to participate in it, as it has no legal ground. There are no other formal legal proceedings between Ukraine and Russia other than the case in the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. At a meeting in Hamburg on 25 May 2019, the UN Court ordered Russia to immediately release the 24 captured Ukrainian sailors, as well as return the Berdyansk, Nikopol, and Yani Kapu warships to Ukraine.