FILE - Russian soldiers guard a pier where two Ukrainian naval vessels are moored, in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 5, 2014. Europe’s top human rights court ruled Tuesday, June 25, 2024, that Russia was responsible for a string of human rights violations in Crimea since overrunning and later illegally annexing the Black Sea peninsula in 2014.
Russia also breached international humanitarian law by imposing its laws on the occupied peninsula, the Strasbourg-based court ruled.from its ranks more than two years ago following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The expulsion means that the court has no enforcement powers over Russia. Ukraine and most Western governments, including the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany, condemned the annexation of Crimea as illegal, calling the referendum a sham.