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PHOTO: People demonstrate in support of the Ukraine outside the United Nations' top court in The Hague on Wednesday. (Peter Dejong/AP)
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Russia was ordered to halt its invasion of Ukraine by the United Nationsβ top court Wednesday, in a preliminary decision that appeared to have largely symbolic significance.
Ukraine initiated the case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to contest President Vladimir Putinβs official explanation for entering the country as an effort to end a βgenocideβ of pro-Russian separatists.
The court voted 13 to 2 in favor of ordering Russia to βsuspendβ military operations in Ukraine and to prevent armed units that are directed or supported by Russia from taking further action. Of the two judges in opposition, one was from Russia, the other from China.
The ICJ does not appear to have a viable path to enforce the decision. Sanctions could be imposed only by the U.N. Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member and where it has a veto power. The courtβs mission is to settle disputes between sovereign nations, and it cannot charge presidents or military leaders with war crimes, for example.
The proceedings center on Russiaβs official explanation for its invasion of Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has said is intended to achieve the βdenazificationβ of Ukraine and end a βgenocideβ in the countryβs east. There is no evidence to support Russiaβs claims.
In its order Wednesday, the court did not rule directly on the facts of the case and whether genocide was taking place but said Ukraine was βasserting a right that is plausible under the Genocide Convention.βΒ To not impose preliminary measures now would open people to βirreparable harm,β the court said.
There is precedent for such a provisional judgment, even if the defendant does not show up. In 1984, Nicaragua won a similar ruling before the ICJ against the United States for its funding and support of the contra rebels seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. The United States refused to participate in the proceedings, arguing the ICJ, one of the founding components of the United Nations system, lacked jurisdiction. But it later blocked U.N. Security Council enforcement, refusing to pay Nicaragua ordered compensation.
Before the proceedings got underway, ICJ President Joan E. Donoghue hadΒ urgedΒ Russiaβs foreign minister two weeks ago to βact in such a wayβ that a court order β including one that may order Russia to halt hostilities β can βhave its appropriate effects.β
One of Russiaβs longtime lawyers, Alain Pellet, resigned in the lead-up to the proceedings, writing inΒ an open letterΒ that it βhas become impossible to represent in forums dedicated to the application of the law a country that so cynically despises it.β