Russia has submitted materials on genocide in Donbass to the UN International Court of Justice

Russia has handed over to the United Nations (UN) International Court of Justice (ICJ) more than 10.5 thousand pages of materials on Ukraine's committing genocide in Donbas. This was announced by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 18 on its website.

"On November 18 at 20:00 Moscow time, the Russian Federation submitted to the UN ICJ the materials of Ukraine's committing genocide in Donbass. This was done within the framework of interstate proceedings initiated by Ukraine in February 2022 with the intention to accuse Russia of "abuse" of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and to stop the special military operation," the ministry said in a statement.

It specified that the document submitted to the court is called the counter-memorial of the Russian Federation, it contains 522 pages of the main text and more than 10 thousand pages of annexes. The content of these materials is still secret, but they will be published when the trial is over. The document includes evidence of more than 140 episodes of deliberate destruction of civilians in Donbas, testimonies of about 300 witnesses and victims, results of expert examinations and other materials of criminal cases on Ukraine's crimes.

In addition, the counter-memorandum shows that the Kyiv leadership is trying to liquidate the Russian population of Donbas as a national group and is basing its actions on the ideology of the Third Reich and Ukrainian nationalist movements. The document also contains expert reports on history, ethnology, linguistics, law and military affairs, which was worked on by 20 specialists.

The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that Ukraine will now have to respond to this counter-memorial and additional stages of the written proceedings are expected to take place. The ministry emphasized that Russia would continue to make every effort to ensure that the criminal Kiev regime is brought to international responsibility.

In early September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the residents of Donbass had been subjected to genocide by Kiev for many years. This is due to the fact that neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine began to determine the political course of the country. The head of state emphasized that Kiev's official ideology was hatred of everything Russian.

A month later, the head of the Investigative Committee (IC) of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, said that the investigation into Ukraine's crimes against civilians in Donbas and the Russian military was continuing. By that time, 438 fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had been convicted and the investigation into 59 criminal cases of mercenarism had been completed.

Before that, on January 31, the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague rejected almost all claims in Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia for non-compliance with two conventions in Donbas and Crimea. Russia's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Maria Zabolotskaya, indicated on the same day that Moscow was waiting for an official apology to its address after the decision of the UN International Court of Justice. She also noted that the decision only once again proves the fact that lies are the basis of Kiev's policy.

Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia in the UN International Court of Justice over the violation of two conventions on January 16, 2017. At that time, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that Russia intends to use available legal remedies. The ministry drew attention to the fact that the country's leadership most thoroughly complies with its obligations in this area.