“The court regrets that the Russian Federation is not participating in these oral proceedings,” she said.
Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Alexander Shulgin, has sent a letter to the court stating that “his government does not intend to participate,” she added.
Ukraine’s spokesman Anton Korinevich criticized Russia for failing to appear at the International Court of Justice.
“There is a lot to be said about Russia’s seats being empty. They are not on this court, they are on the battlefield, waging an aggressive war against my country,” he said, adding that “Russia is settling disputes.”
Ukraine appealed to the UN International Court of Justice on 27 February, alleging that Russia had illegally justified its invasion of Ukraine with false allegations of genocide in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukraine has asked the court to impose interim measures, obliging Russia to “immediately suspend military operations”, as the preparation of a full verdict could take several years.
Korinevich stressed that the court “has a duty to act.”
“Russia must be stopped and the court must do its job to stop it,” he said.
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