Ukraine continues to lose lawsuit against Russia at WTO

Ukraine has lost a dispute with Russia over anti-dumping measures related to ammonium nitrate at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said on September 13. Russia's victory was confirmed by the report of the WTO's Appeals Body, issued by the organization's secretariat, Sputnik reported.

"Based on the results of the dispute, the arbitration panel ordered Ukraine to remove the violations. Kiev disagreed with the decision of the arbitration panel and filed an appeal," the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said in a statement. The Ministry stressed that the Appeals Body did not change the conclusion of the arbitration panel and affirmed Russia's position.

Moscow also hopes that Russia's victory will increase its chances of successfully appealing against European anti-dumping measures.

Moscow has once again prevailed over Kiev in trade disputes. In April 2019, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of Russia in its dispute with Ukraine over transit routes. In its ruling, the WTO dispute settlement panel said that Russia had the right to invoke national security concerns to impose restrictions on the transit of Ukrainian goods by road or rail.

Ukraine also plans to sue Russia in a series of other disputes within the WTO framework. However, observers say that Ukraine will continue to lose the lawsuit against Russia. The costs of international lawsuits are often not small, and the long time it takes to pursue the lawsuit will make Kiev's situation even more difficult.