ITLOS Tribunal Orders Russia to Return Naval Vessels and Servicemen to Ukraine (May 25, 2019) [1]
On May 25, 2019, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) prescribed provisional measures ordering [3] Russia to release three Ukrainian naval vessels and their twenty-four servicemen in relation to the Case Concerning the Detention of Three Ukrainian Naval Vessels (Ukraine v. Russian Federation). The matter concerns Ukraine’s claim that Russia violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea regarding its coastal rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kerch Strait, when it detained the three vessels and their servicemen in November 2018. Ukraine requested provisional measures for their return while the case continues and the Tribunal determined that the rights Ukraine claims [4] in the case are at least plausible, and that there is a real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice to Ukraine’s rights. The Tribunal ordered “the Russian Federation to release the three Ukrainian naval vessels and the 24 detained Ukrainian servicemen and to allow them to return to Ukraine in order to preserve the rights claimed by Ukraine.” However, the Tribunal also determined it was not “necessary to require the Russian Federation to suspend criminal proceedings against the 24 detained Ukrainian servicemen and refrain from initiating new proceedings.”