DISINFO: ECHR might rule to treat Russian control of Crimea as legal
SUMMARY
Ukraine has filed a problematic complaint through the European Court of Human Rights against Russia, alleging violations of the human rights of both individual citizens, and violations against the Crimean Tatar minority on the whole. But how they’ve gone about it, may require to determine – whether overtly or de facto – whether Russia’s control over Crimea is illegal. [—] This places Ukraine’s claims in danger of being rejected outright, de-legitimising their claim, and perhaps even creating the de facto precedent that an international body with standing among the parties, such as is the ECHR, treated the Russian control of Crimea as a legal (or, perhaps, ‘not illegal’) phenomenon.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about alleged recognition of Crimea by international actors. See earlier disinformation cases on Russia's relationship with international organisations alleging that the Council of Europe will die without Russia's membership, and that the Council of Europe is Russophobic and that the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights are anti-Russian.