On 22 April 2026, the Arbitral Tribunal established under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) rendered its award on the merits in the case of Ukraine against the Russian Federation concerning the rights of a coastal state in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.
The case was initiated by Ukraine on 14 September 2016 in connection with the Russian Federation’s violation of its obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the waters adjacent to the coast of Crimea of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait since 2014.
In its final award, the Arbitral Tribunal did not establish that the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait are the so-called “Russian lake”, but instead confirmed their status as internal waters of two States – Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
Ukraine remains a coastal state in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and retains all sovereign rights granted to it by international law, and no unlawful unilateral actions by Russia after 2022 have affected this.
Separately, the Arbitral Tribunal found that the Russian Federation violated its obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea by failing to conduct a proper environmental impact assessment during the construction of the so-called “bridge”, the laying of submarine power cables and the gas pipeline, and by failing to ensure proper notification and publication of the results of such an assessment, which constitutes a violation of the obligations of due diligence and cooperation in the field of protection of the marine environment.
The decision of the Arbitration Tribunal is yet another confirmation that the Russian Federation systematically disregards the norms of international law, and its attempts to impose the consequences of criminal aggression on the world as a "new reality" do not have and will not have international legal recognition.
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