Russia denies Kiev's 'terrorism' claims at UN court

Russia hit back today at claims it is "sponsoring terrorism" in war-torn eastern Ukraine, dismissing Kiev's accusations that it is breaking treaties by supporting pro-Moscow rebels as "neither factual nor legal".
"The Russian Federation complies fully with its obligations under (the) treaties that are now relied upon by Ukraine," in a case before the UN's top International Court of Justice, Moscow's representative said.
"We see neither a legal nor factual basis" for the measures asked for by Ukraine, Roman Kolodkin, legal director at Russia's foreign ministry, told the court in The Hague.
Ukraine yesterday urged the ICJ to order emergency measures to bring stability to its eastern regions.

Nearly three years of conflict have claimed about 10,000 lives in eastern Ukraine -- and led to Russia's seizure of Ukraine's southern peninsula of Crimea in 2014 -- pushing ties between Moscow and the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Ukraine lodged its case against its former Soviet master at the ICJ in mid-January, saying it had protested for several years against Moscow's alleged financing of separatist rebels battling Ukrainian government forces.

Ukranian deputy foreign minister Olena Zerkal told judges that Kiev was only seeking "a measure of stability and calm in an unpredictable and dangerous situation."

Kiev has asked the court -- which rules in disputes between countries -- to order Moscow to stop funnelling money, arms and people into eastern Ukraine.
But Ilya Rogachev, another Russian representative, told the 16 judges hearing the case that Kiev "is misleading the court."
Kiev "is involved in an armed conflict being waged by its authorities and its armed forces including irregular battalions against the people of the eastern Ukraine," Rogachev said.
"Stigmatising those as terrorists and sponsors of terrorism could have serious consequences" in future peace talks, he warned.
"Ukraine's own evidence, which shows that it is at least equally engaged in indiscriminate shelling, places a very important question mark next to the characterisation that Ukraine alone places on these acts as acts of terrorism," added one of Russia's lawyers, Samuel Wordsworth.