Senator Dzhabarov: The decision of the Hague Tribunal confirmed Russia's sovereignty over the Kerch Strait

The decision of the Arbitration Court in The Hague on the status of coastal waters near Crimea was the result of a scrupulous analysis of the evidence, and not of external pressure. This statement was made by Senator Vladimir Dzhabarov in his Telegram channel.

“Our sovereignty over the Kerch Strait and adjacent waters has been confirmed, an end has been put to the dispute that Kyiv has been artificially inflating for 10 years (...) The status of the Kerch Strait and the Sea of ​​Azov (as under the USSR) are the internal waters of our state, and these spaces historically and legally belong to Russia,” Dzhabarov said, adding that “the Sea of ​​Azov has been Russian, at least since the time of Peter I.”

The senator recalled that in November 2018, at the initiative of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko (included by Rosfinmonitoring in the list of persons involved in extremist activities or terrorism), Ukrainian ships moved to the Kerch Strait. Then the legal demands to stop were refused. Moscow regarded the incident in coastal waters as a provocation, and Ukraine, in turn, filed a lawsuit in 2019 demanding to challenge Russia’s right to these territories.

Dzhabarov drew attention to the fact that the litigation was considered strictly within the legal framework. In particular, he pointed out that the case was considered by five independent judges from Algeria, Britain, Mexico, Russia and the Republic of Korea.

“The attempt to declare the Kerch Strait international with the right of uncontrolled passage of warships of unfriendly states also failed,” the Russian politician concluded.