Arseniy Yatsenyuk calls on Parliament to pass a bill allowing to take foreign states to Ukrainian courts

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk urged the Parliament of Ukraine to adopt a bill on jurisdictional and property immunities of a foreign state at a meeting of Wednesday, March 11,.

This bill, he stressed, would allow "to judge foreign states in Ukrainian courts, if these foreign states committed illegal acts against the Ukrainian citizens or companies, including confiscated or nationalized Ukrainian property in any territory."

He noted that the relevant rules are applicable in a number of EU member states and other countries, such as Australia and Argentina.

The PM emphasized that "this bill will bring Ukrainian legislation in line with European one and also allow Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainian companies to protect their property, including property illegally nationalized in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk asked the Justice Ministry to "be ready to report to the Parliament on the need for the adoption of this bill and after its adoption to take all legal measures to protect the property interests of Ukrainian companies, Ukrainian citizens and the whole Ukrainian state."

He also recalled that Ukraine had filed two cases to the European Court of Human Rights on the illegal annexation of Crimea. According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has completed the first phase of consultation on the lawsuit against Russia for violations of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. The second phase of consultations and of a claim to the UN International Court of Justice is being planned.

"We consider all possible international legal measures in order to bring Russia to justice," Arseniy Yatsenyuk added.