The recent Russian attack on Ukranian ships has ratcheted up the Russia-Ukraine tensions between the two countries. On Sea as on Land: New Russia-Ukraine Tensions Require Mediation and Negotiations in Good Faith At the 26 November Emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs said, “The United Nations is deeply concerned about this escalation of Russia-Ukraine tensions which are taking place in the broader context of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.” “This escalation of Russia-Ukraine tensions” was an attack by Russian security forces on two Ukrainian warships and their tugboat guide passing through the Kerch Strait into the Sea of Azov on the way to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. A 2003 treaty between Russia and Ukraine designates the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov as shared territorial water. The 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty sets out clearly dispute settlement procedures for conflicts arising from the treaty. The Association of World Citizens was particularly active as NGO participants in the decade-long Law of the Sea negotiations, one year in New York, the next in Geneva. World Citizen and Harvard Law School professor Louis Sohn was particularly active in creating the dispute settlement provisions of the Law of the Sea Treaty. Unfortunately, neither the Law of the Sea Treaty Court located in Germany nor other conflict-resolution mechanisms were called upon by Russia or Ukraine to study this particular issue. The Security Council also agreed with the U.N. Under-Secretary-General that the situation was dangerous and restraint was needed. Beyond stating the obvious, the Security Council decided to do nothing in the hope that the situation might calm down by itself. As Russia is a member of the Security Council, Russia called for the Emergency Session and proposed the title...

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