Institutionalization of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict over the Black Sea

The purpose of the study is to determine the formal and informal practices of resolving conflicts between the Russian Federation and Ukraine over the use of the Black Sea water area. In this article, the author analyzed the problems of organizational forms for the settlement of Russian-Ukrainian claims over the Black Sea. The article assesses the effectiveness of the use of old institutions and the search vector for new non-institutional forms. The author substantiates his conclusions on the example of an armed incident near the Kerch Strait in 2018. Results. Against the background of the low institutional development of bilateral relations, the Russian Federation actually fulfilled certain requirements of Ukraine, which did not refuse to consider complaints and claims in international instances. Russian-Ukrainian conflicts are institutionalized and rationalized. Since there is no reciprocal initiative of the Russian authorities, Ukraine insists on holding forced negotiations on the basis of the current UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This is hampered by the current bilateral Treaty between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on cooperation in the use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait in 2003.

institutionalization of the conflict, Black Sea, Black Sea conflict, Russian-Ukrainian relations, naval conflict