As Global Arbitration Review reported on January 3, Russia challenged two arbitrators in an interstate dispute initiated by Ukraine in 2019 regarding the seizure of three ships and their crews during the 2018 “Kerch Incident”. This case is now being considered by a specially formed arbitration panel of five people, which includes Donald McRae and Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum, whom the aggressor challenged.
The formal “reason” for this Russian provocation is that Wolfrum and McRae supported the statement of the Institute of International Law condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine. This “innovative” approach of the Russian Federation to international disputes has become the Kremlin’s next step towards conscious “self-isolation” regarding international mechanisms, since it is extremely difficult to find an authoritative arbiter who has not condemned Russian aggression in the modern world.
