The environmental disaster in the Kerch Strait and the Black Sea due to the leakage of Rosneft fuel oil from two Russian tankers is unlikely to have legal consequences for Russia, which caused this disaster and does not take sufficient measures to localize the consequences. The Russian Federation will prevent the creation of an international commission, and if it is created, it will block its work.

About it in the interview Center for Journalistic InvestigationsYevgeny Khlobystov, professor, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, said.

The scientist considers the prospects of Ukraine's claim against Russia to the International Court of Justice of the United Nations and the call for the creation of an international commission to investigate environmental pollution due to the shipwreck of Russian tankers.

“Russia has been waging a full-scale bloody war on the territory of Ukraine for the third year, and no UN institution can stop this war, really and effectively stand in defense of the victim. There is a small probability that the UN as an international response mechanism will protect the Black Sea waters, biodiversity and people living on the coast,” says Yevgeny Khlobystov.

Even if a future investigation into the circumstances of this disaster can reach a verdict, Russia will always be able to refuse to recognize the decision of any international court, including the UN court. Russian legislation allows this: in Russia, the priority of national legislation over international law.

It is impossible to create an international commission in the conditions of war in the Black Sea without the consent and assistance of Russia. And even if it succeeded, Russia would hinder the commission's work and not recognize its findings. “Thus, this process, even at the start, has a very low chance of reaching a court decision. And it is even less likely that this court decision will somehow be taken into account in the realities of the Russian Federation,” says Yevgeny Khlobystov.

As reported, Ukraine plans to apply to international judicial institutions, in particular to the International Court of Justice of the United Nations, with a lawsuit against Russia for violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The subject of the lawsuit is environmental damage caused by the accidents of the tankers Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239" in the Black Sea. The incidents resulted in the death of marine organisms, pollution of waters, bottom sediments and coastal areas of the occupied territory.