Russian FM Lavrov: Russia fears no new sanctions because of armed confrontation with Ukraine
2018/11/26
Moscow is not worried about a probability of new sanctions that may be imposed on Russia because of the crisis in the Kerch Strait, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"As for the sanctions. I don't know. This has not been a matter of concern for us for long already," Sergei Lavrov said.
He also noted that the incident in the Kerch Strait was "obviously a provocation" that was arranged upon the approval from the Ukrainian administration. The Foreign Minister added that the ships of the Ukrainian Navy violated key provisions of international law, while their actions posed threats and risks to the normal movement of ships.
Ukraine’s Poroshenko wants Putin to explain attack on naval vessels and personnel
2018/11/26
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appealed to the Russian authorities.
"I appeal to the administration of the Russian Federation demanding an immediate release of the Ukrainian military personnel, who, in violation of international law, were roughly detained and whose fate remains unknown," Poroshenko said.
Poroshenko demanded Russia should deliver both the seized Ukrainian ships and their crews to the Ukrainian side as a first step to deescalate tensions in the Sea of Azov. The President of Ukraine stressed that he was expecting Russian top officials to respond to this appeal.
It was reported that three Ukrainian military men were taken to a hospital in the city of Kerch after they were wounded in the clash between Russian and Ukrainian warships in the Kerch Strait on November 25. Their condition is said to be stable.
On November 25, a FSB border patrol detained three ships of the Naval Forces of Ukraine - the Berdyansk and the Nikopol boats, as well as the Yany Kapu tugboat in the Kerch Strait. The Ukrainian ships entered the territorial waters of the Crimea, did not respond to the requirement to stop, but started performing dangerous maneuvers instead.
Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the incident with the Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait was a dangerous provocation.
"This is a very dangerous provocation, which, of course, requires special attention and special investigation," said Peskov at a news briefing on Monday, November 26, adding that events in the strait would be considered at the urgent meeting of UN Security Council that Moscow is summoning.
Russia and Ukraine clash in Kerch Strait off Crimea. Ukrainian navy men wounded
2018/11/26
Officials with the Federal Security Bureau of Russia said that Russian border guards detained three ships of the Ukrainian Navy as the latter were trying to travel across the Black Sea from the port of Odessa to the port of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian warships committed a number of provocative acts, FSB officials said.
Russian warships and boats of the Black Sea Fleet were escorting the Ukrainian ships and asking them to stop. However, the commanders of the Ukrainian ships ignored the requests. Russia was forced to use weapons to stop the Ukrainian vessels. As a result, three Ukrainian ships were detained. Three Ukrainian navy men were wounded in the incident. They received medical assistance, their lives are out of danger, FSB officials said.
Russia filed a criminal case into the violation of the Russian state border. The arrested Ukrainian ships will be transported to the port of Kerch. On November 25, the Kerch Strait was closed to civilian vessels for security reasons, but navigation was opened at 4 a.m.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the incident occurred in neutral waters. It still remains unknown, however, where exactly the Ukrainian ships violated the Russian border as Russian FSB officials claim. At the same time, Moscow and Kiev share a different approach to the question of territorial waters of the Russian Federation. "The Crimea is a territory of Ukraine. There is not a single legal ground for the Ukrainian authorities to notify the Russians of the passage of Ukrainian ships there," a source close to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
Meanwhile, Alexander Turchinov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko supported the initiative of the National Security Council to introduce martial law in the country for 60 days. The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) will consider the issue on Monday, November 26.
"We view Russia's actions as an act of aggression," Poroshenko tweeted. "For the Russian Federation, there are no red lines. We believe that such actions are absolutely unacceptable. This aggression has already led to certain consequences," Poroshenko wrote.
In turn, Russia has requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.. "In connection with the dangerous development of the situation in the Sea of Azov and the following events, Russia is requesting an urgent convocation of an open meeting of the Security Council in the morning of November 26 for the agenda item "Maintaining international peace and security," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Polyansky said.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Facebook that the Ukrainian army was put on high alert, while heavy security was rolled out for the Ukrainian police.
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