WTO rules in favour of Ukraine in Russia railway row

The World Trade Organization on Tuesday ruled mostly in favour of Ukraine in a row with Russia over railway equipment exports — one of several economic disputes between the two rivals.

The case is also one of the last to be heard by the WTO’s appeals panel, sometimes dubbed the supreme court of world trade, after it was blocked by the United States.

Ukraine launched the dispute in 2015 — a year after the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the outbreak of a conflict with Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.

In the dispute, Kiev charged that Russia had all but imposed a ban on imports of Ukrainian railway equipment, in what it said was a violation of international trade agreements.

A WTO dispute settlement panel in 2018 found mostly in favour of Russia, including its argument that it was unsafe for Russian inspectors to visit Ukrainian suppliers to grant the required certificates for export.

But the WTO’s appellate body on Tuesday partially reversed the panel ruling, saying its analysis “was based on the existence of security concerns and anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine in general and not in the specific regions where the relevant suppliers were located”.

Ukraine and Russia are also at loggerheads over a number of other economic issues, particularly over natural gas supplies from Russia, as well as debt owed by Ukraine to Russia.

The railway equipment dispute is the third to last still being heard by the WTO appeals panel, which halted almost all of its operations in December after years of relentless US opposition.

Washington, which accuses the court of serious overreach, has blocked the appointment of new judges, leaving it without the quorum of three needed to hear cases due to mandatory retirements.