ICJ rejects Kyiv's call to halt Russian support for separatists

But the court on April 19 did issue a provisional ruling calling for a halt to what it says is "racial discrimination" against Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians in Russia-occupied Crimea, Radio Liberty reported. "The conditions required for the indication of provisional measures," as requested by Ukraine in order to block Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, "are not met," the United Nation’s highest court said in its April 19 ruling, read out by ICJ President Ronny Abraham. Moscow seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and has supported the separatists in a war that has killed more than 9,900 people in eastern Ukraine since April of that year. When it lodged its case in January, Kyiv said that Russia has stepped up its interference in Ukraine's affairs since 2014, "intervening militarily…financing acts of terrorism and violating the human rights of millions of Ukraine's citizens, including, for all too many, their right to life." It said Ukraine was seeking "full reparations for...acts of terrorism the Russian Federation has caused, facilitated or supported," citing bombardments of residential areas and the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed all 298 passengers and crew.