Today’s Committee meeting dealt with selected aspects of Russian aggression against Ukraine in light of international law. The participants focused, among others, on legal issues related to proceedings before the International Court of Justice in Ukraine v. Russian Federation case, which concerns the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

On 26 February 2022, Ukraine filed an application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Russia with respect to the interpretation, application and fulfilment of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Ukraine accused Russia of having fabricated a false claim of alleged genocide within the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. On 16 March 2022, the ICJ issued an order on provisional measures which obligated Russia to urgently suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine. Poland joined the proceedings as an intervening state. In 2023, the ICJ granted the intervention of 32 states, including Poland, in the jurisdictional phase of the proceedings.

Proceedings before the International Court of Justice were put on the Committee’s agenda because of the ICJ judgement of 2 February 2024 on preliminary objections in the case.

In the second part of the meeting, Committee members discussed utilising the Russian Central Bank’s frozen assets.