
Problems of delimitation of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait
Author(s) -
Iryna Panchenko
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
časopis kiïvsʹkogo unìversitetu prava
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2219-5521
DOI - 10.36695/2219-5521.3.2020.67
Subject(s) - ukrainian , annexation , territorial waters , black sea , united nations convention on the law of the sea , russian federation , geography , maritime boundary , political science , negotiation , state (computer science) , exclusive economic zone , economy , international law , law , oceanography , politics , geology , regional science , philosophy , linguistics , algorithm , computer science , economics
The article gradually considers the negotiation process between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the delimitation of theSea of Azov and the Kerch Strait from 1991 to the present. It was established that according to the map of the inter-republican borderbetween the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SSR, and according to the division of maritime waters on the basis of international law,Russia should get a smaller part of the Sea of Azov. That is why Russia was not interested in the rapid establishment of a state borderon water. It was advantageous for Russia to delay the negotiation process on this issue and use the Sea of Azov on the same terms asbefore the collapse of the USSR.The article also focuses on numerous attempts of Ukrainian diplomats to achieve legal certainty in the delimitation of the Sea ofAzov and the Kerch Strait. A total of 36 rounds of border talks about the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, held from 1996 to 2012under the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, showed that Russia was ready to delimit the Sea of Azov only onits own terms but not on the basis of international maritime law.After the annexation of Crimea, a new round of relations begins regarding the division of the Black Sea. Russia acted quicklyand in March 2014 announced a tender for a construction project of a bridge that would connect mainland Russia and the CrimeanPeninsula, which at that time had already been illegally incorporated into the Russian Federation. Moscow has stated that the KerchStrait should be fully controlled by them, as both shores are Russian.In 2016, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia in the Hague Arbitration Court for breaking the UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea in the Black and Azov Seas and in the Kerch Strait. For today we don’t know what decision will be made by the Hague tribunal,but there is reason to believe that the chances for winning of Ukraine are high.The problem of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait has no simple solution. For today the only option is to wait for a decisionof the Arbitration Tribunal. Only on its basis Ukraine will be able to achieve the best strategy of the relations with Russia on the delimitationthe Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.