KIEV, Jan. 10 – Ukraine expects the tribunal within the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which will study the issues related to Crimea, to start work in the middle of 2017, Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration Olena Zerkal said.

"We have completed all the necessary pre-trial procedures. The fact that the Russian Federation agreed to the creation of arbitration and tribunal, that they participated in selection of arbitrators - all this gives us hope for a more serious approach to its solution. We certainly hope that the arbitration will begin work from the middle of 2017," she said in an interview with the Ukrayinska Pravda edition.