MFA refutes Russian, Romanian media reports saying Ukraine loses case in Hague on delimitation of continental shelf and exclusive economic zones in Black Sea

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The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers fair the verdict of the UN International Court of Justice in Hague on delimitation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zones between Ukraine and Romania in the Black Sea, MFA Spokesman Vasyl Kyrylych told a briefing on Tuesday.

According to him, this is a preliminary assessment of the Foreign Ministry. "The ruling of the UN court in Hague was carried unanimously, and therefore impartially," he stressed. Kyrylych noted that the verdict has put an end to the disputable issues between Ukraine and Romania making Ukraine closer to European integration. The MFA official also said that Ukraine was first enabled in the UN International Court of Justice in Hague.

V. Kyrylych also emphasized that today's decision of the court in Hague removed from the agenda the issue on the nature of Serpents' Island, and the Court recognized measuring beyond the 12-nautical-mile zone of the territorial waters of Ukraine on the part of Serpents' Island. Moreover, the Court, according to him, took into account the fact that the Ukrainian coastline in the delimitation zone is three times more than the Romanian one, and this significantly enhances Ukraine's stand and this factor influenced the court verdict.

At the same time, Ukraine's Representative to the UN International Court Volodymyr Vasylenko claimed that the court rejected a major part of arguments of the Romanian party. This particularly concerns a compensation justice in accordance to which Romania had appealed the belonging of Serpents' Island to Ukraine defined according to the treaty with the USSR after the WWII.

For his part, Deputy Head of the Presidential Secretariat Andriy Honcharuk noted importance of the court ruling indicating that Romania's claim for the existence of the solely 12-mile zone of Ukraine around Serpents' Island is groundless. "The delimitation line ran by the Court demonstrates that Serpents' Island has a continental shelf and exclusive economic zone beyond the border of this line," he said.

The official emphasized that as a result of the delimitation line defined by the Court, maritime spaces of Ukraine and Romania in the Black Sea are set in ratio 2.1:1 in favor of Ukraine. This means that "actually all developed oil and gas fields remain in the area of Ukraine's territorial wasters," he said.

The Foreign Ministry has promised to hold a news conference on February 4 dedicated to the verdict of the UN International Court of Justice in Hague.

UKRINFORM