International Court of Justice heard arguments on whether Russia’s invasion can be challenged under 1948 treaty.

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Moscow and Kyiv faced off this week in The Hague over Ukraine’s claim that Russia’s 2022 invasion violates a landmark treaty, the Genocide Convention of 1948.

The case before the International Court of Justice, an arm of the United Nations, proceeded decorously as bombs exploded 2,000 miles away and Russia continued to ignore the court’s preliminary orders last year to halt its attacks. Findings by the world court and other international tribunals could influence both allied support for Ukraine and the shape of an eventual peace, meaning the record both sides sought to establish could someday have consequences.

Russia argues that however its invasion is characterized—“special military operation” is the Kremlin’s term—it isn’t covered by the Genocide Convention and therefore Ukraine’s complaint should be dismissed. Kyiv argues that Russia violated the treaty by falsely accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in the country’s Donbas region to justify the invasion.

“For nine years we have endured lies about genocide from the highest level of the Russian government. For a year and a half we have suffered terrible attacks because of those lies. Today Ukraine is simply asking for its day in court,” Ukrainian Ambassador Anton Korynevych told the court Tuesday.

A lawyer for Russia, Alfredo Crosato, said the Kremlin’s political rhetoric about genocide was legally irrelevant.

“What this case is really about is the legality of the special military operation and the recognition of the DPR and LPR as states,” Crosato said at Monday arguments, using abbreviations for the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, puppet states Moscow has recognized in occupied portions of Ukraine.

“The legality of these actions [falls] not under the Genocide Convention, but under the U.N. Charter and customary international law,” Crosato said, and therefore outside the world court’s jurisdiction.

Proceedings will continue into next week, including arguments from Australia, Canada, the U.K. and 29 other countries that have intervened in support of Ukraine. If the court declines to dismiss the case, a future round will consider the merits of Ukraine’s claim.

The U.S. also sought to intervene in support of Ukraine, but the ICJ ruled that Washington was ineligible because it hasn’t itself agreed to be bound by the court’s application of the Genocide Convention.

The 15-judge world court hears disputes between nations that consent to its jurisdiction but has no independent enforcement power. Its current president, Joan Donoghue, is a former official with the U.S. State Department. The court issued its March 2022 order for Russia to halt its military operations by a 13-2 vote, with the Russian and Chinese judges dissenting.

Russia and its leaders face legal scrutiny from several international bodies, including the International Criminal Court, which in March issued warrants for President Vladimir Putin and a senior Kremlin official, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, over the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. A Kremlin spokesman dismissed the ICC warrants as an outrage and said Russia wasn’t subject to the court’s jurisdiction.

Like the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court has no police force and must rely on the cooperation of national governments for enforcement of its orders.

By Jess Bravin
Updated Sept. 19, 2023 2:59 pm ET