As Reuters reported on December 1, Russia did not receive enough votes to be re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organization, where it had previously traditionally been re-elected. It is reported that in a secret ballot on December 1, 40 countries were elected to the governing body of this specialized UN organization, including China, the USA, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Norway, Panama and South Korea
On November 27, Vladimir Zelensky, speaking at the IMO Assembly in a remote format, called on the international community not to allow Russia to join the organization’s executive body. “Russia has no place either in the International Maritime Organization or in its governing bodies, because no one in recent decades has done more harm to free navigation than Russia,” stated the President of Ukraine.
Let us recall that after the start of the large-scale aggression of the Russian Federation, our Association more than ten times provided the authorized structures of the IMO with messages regarding Russia’s violation of maritime law, including descriptions of events in the waters close to the Crimean Peninsula, paying attention to both encroachments on the safety of navigation and the destruction of marine ecosystems.
These communications were based on the special monitoring mechanism established by the IMO itself in resolution C/ES.35 of 2022 and emphasized the need for maximum cessation and suspension of the activities and participation of Russia and its representatives in the IMO.
