Op-Ed: “Procedure matters – some preliminary thoughts on the Russian Inter-State Application against Ukraine before the European Court of Human Rights” by Isabella Risini

On 22 July 2021, Russia lodged an inter-State application against Ukraine under Article 33 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) (see a News update on the case here). Since 2014, Ukraine has filed no less than nine such applications against Russia. The latest Ukrainian application against Russia concerns the lethal use of Polonium and Novichok by Russia inside and outside Russia and was lodged in February 2021.

Against this background, the first inter-State application under the ECHR filed by Russia, which until now had only been a respondent, also due to applications made by Georgia and the Netherlands, is a remarkable new development.

This Op-Ed focuses on the relati