The Status of Crimea and the Sea of Azov as a Jurisdictional Hurdle in Ukraine v. Russia

On 21 February 2020, the arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex vii of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (unclos) in the Dispute Concerning Coastal State Rights in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Kerch Strait (Ukraine v. the Russian Federation) rendered its award concerning preliminary objections. This comment focuses on the arbitral tribunal’s findings concerning Russia’s two most important and far-reaching objections, both of which concern jurisdiction ratione materiae. First, it argues that the arbitral tribunal convincingly declined jurisdiction over those of Ukraine’s claims, which would have required the arbitral tribunal to decide the dispute between Ukraine and Russia concerning sovereignty over Crimea. Second, this comment analyzes the arbitral tribunal’s conclusion that the parties’ dispute concerning the status of the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait was not of an exclusively preliminary character and must, therefore, be reserved for the proceedings on the merits.

Modern technological solutions to ensure transport security

To ensure uninterrupted railway communication with the Republic of Crimea, within the framework of the largest national infrastructure project, the construction of a transport crossing through the Kerch Strait was completed in 2018, which also includes a railway component. The article considers the regulatory legal grounds for the use of modern stationary inspection and screening complexes that allow for the inspection of freight trains plying on the railway of the transport passage through the Kerch Strait.The uniqueness of the legal regime for the protection of this structure is complemented by the use of the latest technical means of ensuring transport security to prevent the commission of unlawful encroachments in the activities of the transport complex, including stationary inspection railway complexes.The principle of operation of inspection complexes, which is based on the physical method of introscopy, is shown, and their technical characteristics are given. The use of inspection railway complexes allows the transport security forces to identify objects and substances that are prohibited or restricted for movement into the transport security zone, practically without interfering with the technological processes of freight traffic, since the scanning of wagons is carried out while the passage is moving. Modern installations at a high level reliably protect the Crimean bridge from illegal encroachments.

Structure of the Field of the Colored Dissolved Organic Matter Concentration in the Kerch Strait

Purpose. Using the data obtained in the expeditions, 2001–2014, the authors intend to identify the typical features of vertical structure of the colored dissolved organic matter (fDOM) concentration field in the Kerch Strait, to type the fDOM(z) profiles, to zone the region under consideration according to a given set of the qualitative features, and also to determine the features of statistical characteristics of the fDOM concentration distribution on the sea surface layer for the water areas with a typical structure. Methods and Results. The typing was carried out by the method of visual expert assessment of the curves of vertical distribution of concentration of the considered value. It was based on analyzing the fDOM(z) profile shapes. To reveal the boundaries of the areas with typical stratification of the fDOM content field, the thermohaline field structure was analyzed. Three types of water vertical structure were identified; they differed in the fDOM(z) profile shape and in statistical indices of empirical distribution of this substance concentration on the sea surface. These are the Azov Sea and the Black Sea types peculiar to the Azov and Black seas waters not contaminated by dissolved organic matter, and the type, the structure of which identifies the waters containing the anthropogenic component in the concentration field of the analyzed value. The latter type is characterized by a special intrusive shape of the fDOM(z) profile. For each of the identified stratification types, the histograms of the fDOM concentration distribution on the sea surface were calculated. Conclusions. The fDOM(z) profiles were typed. The Kerch Strait water area was zoned in accordance with a given set of the preliminary revealed qualitative features. The boundaries of the areas with typical stratification and their displacements were determined. It is shown that each structure type has its own statistical distribution of concentration of the considered value on the sea surface

Kerch Strait and Its Technogenic Pollution: Possibilities of Optical and Radar Remote Sensing

The possibilities of using satellite imagery of modern remote sensing satellites, both optical and radar, to study anthropogenic pollution and the state of the marine environment of the Kerch Strait are discussed. It is shown that satellite data and images allow one to quickly obtain practically complete information about a particular phenomenon and emergency situation in the strait.

AZOV-KERCH WATER SPACES IN THE CONCEPT OF HISTORICAL WATERS

The article is devoted to the definition of the possibilities of the concept of modern international maritime law on the regime of historical waters to the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait application. The weak development of the concept of historical waters in the modern legal doctrine is observed, especially concerning the Azov-Kerch waters. This defines the purpose of the article, and namely, to establish the appropriateness of classifying them as historical waters on the basis of the modern relations characteristics concerning the establishment of the maritime spaces’ regime of this region. The methodological basis of the article consisted of dialectical, historical methods, methods of analysis and synthesis, formal-legal and prognostic methods. The article studies the main scientific approaches to the development of grounds and mechanisms for recognizing certain marine areas as state historical waters. The absence of at list such grounds and mechanisms in modern international public maritime law and national legislation of Ukraine is emphasized. The Azov-Kerch water spaces is among of priority of Ukrainian national interests and the importance of creating the favorable environment for the development of seaports in the region. The attention is paid to the fact that the delimitation of the Azov-Kerch waters was discussed for a long time, but so far no mutually acceptable solution was reached: the attitudes of the parties and their justifications are different, and taking into account the temporary occupation and lasting conflict between two countries the search for a compromise may be delayed indefinitely. The idea of holding an international conference to determine the legal status and use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and the signing of the relevant international agreement was supported. It is possible to terminate the current bilateral agreements because of this: the Agreement on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait in 2003 and the Fishery Agreement on Fishing in the Sea of Azov in 1993. It is concluded that the historicity of Azov-Kerch waters belonging to the inland waters of only two countries has now exhausted itself. The interests of the much larger number of countries meet in this region, and the development of the universal international agreement concerning it has long been “felt” not only bilaterally but also regionally in order to build the balanced neighborhood policy and respect the interests of all concert parties.

POLYDORA WEBSTERI - A COMMENSAL OF ANADARA KAGOSHIMENSIS IN THE AZOV-BLACK SEA REGION

In January 2020, the presence of polychaete borers in the invader clam Anadara kagoshimensis (Tokunaga, 1906) was noted at the Chushka spit near Port Kavkas. Morphological analysis showed that the polychaetes belong to the species Polydora websteri Hartman in Loosanoff & Engle, 1943, non-indigenous to the Azov-Black Sea basin. This species was first recorded in coastal waters of Romania on carbonate rocks in 1997, followed by findings in 2009 and 2019 in coastal areas of Sevastopol and Lake Donuzlav, correspondingly, in oysters Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793). Polydora websteri has not previously been recorded from the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov. Its presence in Anadara kagoshimensis in the Azov-Black Sea region, which is an invasion area for both species, is shown for the first time.

Peculiarities of Macro- and Microelement Accumulation in Bottom Sediments of the Crimean Coastal Water Areas (the Black Sea) with Different Water Exchange Intensity based on XRF Data

The paper analyzes content and spatial distribution peculiarities of macro- and microelements in the bottom sediments of Sevastopol bays, Feodosiya Gulf and Kerch Strait. Bottom sediment sampling was performed from 2005 to 2008 as well as in 2015, 2016, and 2018. Concentrations of macro- (Ti, Fe, Mn) and microelements (As, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, V, Sr) were studied by X-ray fluorescence analysis using Spectroscan MAKS-G spectrometer. The maximal content of Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Pb, Sr exceeding the geochemical background was found in the water areas with difficult water exchange, which include bays of the Sevastopol region under intense anthropogenic influence: the Yuzhnaya Bay, Gollandiya Bay and Kilen-Bay. In the Kazachya Bay, the least polluted in the Sevastopol bay system, the content of Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Pb, As, Sr also exceeded their geochemical background. As illustrated by the Balaklava Bay, the paper shows the influence of local pollution sources (the Balaklavka River runoff and municipal waste water) on the microelement distribution. Sevastopol bays are characterized by high concentrations of the studied elements in the bottom sediments. In the water areas with active water exchange, i. e. Feodosiya Gulf and Kerch Strait, concentration of the studied elements, except for Ni, Zn and Cr, did not exceed on the average the geochemical background of the open Black Sea shelf areas.

Сhanges of the Structure Indicators and the Salinity Field Average Value in the Sea of Azov

Purpose. The work is aimed at continuing the started in the previous papers investigations of structure of the Azov Sea salinity field based on the oceanographic survey data collected since 2000. Interest in studying this parameter is conditioned by its anomalous increase after 2006. Methods and Results. The data of 49 seasonal oceanographic surveys carried out in the Sea of Azov by the Azov-Black Sea Branch of "VNIRO" ("AzNIIRKH") from 2001 to 2016 permitted to calculate the following: the radii in the concentration region of the field spatial correlation function in the meridional and zonal directions for the surface and bottom layers (the characteristic of the field homogeneity); the ratio between these radii; the sea-average values of salinity field for the surface and bottom layers. The time graphical and the paired correlation analyses of the calculated indicators’ series were done. The average values of the meridional and zonal radii of the concentration region of the spatial correlation function (42.5 and 47.1 km) testify presence of two relatively isolated zones in the sea related to the water circulation. These zones are formed under the conditions of the eastern winds dominating in the region. The average values of the above-mentioned radii the near-bottom sea layer were approximately equal, whereas in the surface layer, the average zonal radii exceeded the meridional ones. In spring and summer, the meridional radius in the bottom layer surpassed the zonal one. Long-term variability shows that in the surface layer, the meridional radius values tend to increase, and in the bottom layer, the zonal radius ones – to decrease. These trends demonstrate a change in the nature of water exchange in the sea, namely from predominance of the zonal transport to that of the meridional one. Conclusions. Since 2006, the changes in the structure of the Azov Sea water salinity field (trends towards decrease of the zonal radii and increase of the meridional ones in the concentration region of the field spatial correlation function) resulted from decrease in the river water inflow and increase of water exchange with the Kerch Strait, and were accompanied by growth of average salinity. Water exchange with the Kerch Strait in the bottom layer was the most active in spring and summer. The anticipatory shift of the field structural characteristics by 1 and 2 years relative to its average values makes it possible to forecast them with a two-year advance time.