It is the first time ever the team of the Russian Foreign Trade Academy under the auspices of the Department of International Law of the Academy took part in the International Law Competition ‘Riga Moot 2018’ held by the Riga Higher School of Law (Riga, Latvia)

Oral rounds of the Riga Moot 2018, organized by the Riga Graduate School of Law (University), were held on May 24-25, 2018 in Riga, Latvia. Applications for participation in the contest were submitted by 19 teams, 8 of which were allowed to the second, face-to-face stage of the competition. Teams from Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia participated in the competition. The RFTA team (Kirill Zyubanov, Darya Kazakova, Anastasia Bugrova and Denis Lalaev) reached the final of the competition and took a well-deserved second place. The judges noted that the gap in the points between the finalists was insignificant. In the nomination "Best Speaker of the Competition" the team captain Kirill Zyubanov won first place. For three months, the team studied various aspects of international law concerning aggression in interstate relations, the rights of national minorities and migrants, as well as gradually emerging concept of a "hybrid war." Coaches, Elena Murashko and Marina Koleskina, graduates of the RFTA and participants of the Jessup competition in 2017-2018, worked with the team preparing participants for the oral rounds and advising on writing memorandums for the plaintiff and the defendant.

Special thanks to the RFTA for financing!