The European Court of Human Rights postponed for two months the hearing on the admissibility of the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia on Donbas.

According to "European Pravda," this is stated in the report of the court.

The first hearing in the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands vs. Russian Federation was to have been held on November 24, 2021, but has now been postponed until January 26, 2021.

"The postponement is a consequence of the recent removal from the case of the temporary judge assigned to the Russian Federation," the court explains.

On June 10, the parties were informed by the court that the admissibility hearing would take place on November 24.

On November 8, the assigned judge informed the court that he was withdrawing from the hearing. Accordingly, the president of the Grand Chamber began a search for another interim judge who could participate in the Nov. 24 hearing, but on Nov. 12 it became clear that such could not be found.

"As a consequence, on November 12, the president decided, given the late stage of the procedures, that a postponement of the November 24 hearing was inevitable and decided to move it to January 26, 2021," the ECHR notes.

As a reminder, this process brings together three complaints about human rights violations in Russia-occupied Donbas and is the largest case the ECtHR has ever considered in terms of the volume of evidence and the number of violations.

It should be noted that Russia is interested in delaying the proceedings and while considering Ukraine's Crimean complaint, it also achieved a postponement.

The court completed the procedure and in early 2021 issued an interlocutory decision in favor of Ukraine.

The Justice Ministry predicts that the ECHR ruling on Ukraine's claim against Russia in the Donbass case can be expected in 2-2.5 years after the hearing, and the final decision in the Crimea case - not earlier than in five years.