A 2021 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights found that Russia was responsible for human rights violations in Crimea — including torture, unlawful detention and enforced disappearances. That established a key precedent by recognizing that Moscow had effectively seized control of the peninsula from Ukraine by force on Feb. 27, 2014 and not via a legally flawed referendum in March of that year, as Russia claims.
That same legal reasoning — that Russia has illegally occupied Ukrainian territory — underpins other key prosecutions, including of the forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens. Recognizing that Russia legally owns Crimea would undercut that effort.
“If Russia were sovereign in this territory, the court would not consider such violations,” noted Darya Svyrydova, a Kyiv-based lawyer originally from Crimea who has worked extensively on Crimea cases. “These violations are markers, which actually tell us through judicial institutions that this is not the territory of Russia.”
In practical terms, this would mean that policies such as forcing Ukrainians to accept Russian passports or deporting Ukrainian citizens to prisons thousands of kilometers away in Russia would no longer be legally contestable, Svyrydova said. Russia would be seen as exercising its sovereignty, which includes the power to make constitutional changes and impose citizenship — as long as these actions respect basic human rights, added Mario Pasquale Amoroso, a legal assistant at the U.N. International Law Commission.
Ukrainian legal efforts have not just looked for accountability — they’ve also exposed Kremlin propaganda, including claims that Crimea joined Russia through an act of self-determination, or that Russia is merely protecting Russian speakers. During hearings at the ECHR prior to 2022, Russia repeatedly relied on these narratives, said Marharyta Sokorenko, a representative of Ukraine before the ECHR.
“Our litigation is about the establishment of true facts. It’s about the battle not just for justice, but the battle for truth,” she said.