November 25, 2018 MOSCOW
(Reuters) - Russia stopped three Ukrainian navy vessels from entering the Sea
of Azov via the Kerch Strait on Sunday by placing a huge cargo ship beneath a
Russian-controlled bridge, with officials from both countries accusing the
other of provocative behavior. A bilateral
treaty gives both countries the right to use the sea, which lies between them
and is linked by the narrow Kerch Strait to the Black Sea. But tensions around
the sea have escalated since Russia annexed Ukraine’s nearby Crimea in 2014. Moscow
is able to control access between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea after it
built a bridge that straddles the Kerch Strait between Crimea and southern
Russia. A Reuters witness said on Sunday that a bulk cargo ship had been used
to block the channel beneath the bridge and that he had seen two Russian Sukhoi
Su-25 warplanes flying overhead. Russian state TV said Russian combat
helicopters had also been deployed to the area.
Tensions
surfaced on Sunday after Russia tried to intercept the three Ukrainian ships —
two small armored artillery vessels and a tug boat — in the Black Sea, accusing
them of illegally entering Russian territorial waters. The Ukrainian navy said
a Russian border guard vessel had rammed the tug boat, damaging it in an
incident it said showed Russia was behaving aggressively
and illegally.
Russian jet
fighters fly over a bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean
Peninsula with a cargo ship beneath it after three Ukrainian navy vessels was
stopped by Russia from entering the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait in the
Black Sea, Crimea November 25, 2018. REUTERS/Pavlishak Alexey
It said its vessels had every
right to be where they were and that the ships had been en route from the Black
Sea port of Odessa to Mariupol, a journey that requires them to go through the
Kerch Strait. Russia’s border guard service accused Ukraine of not informing it
in advance of the journey, something Kiev denied, and said the Ukrainian ships
had been maneuvering dangerously and ignoring its instructions with the aim of
stirring up tensions. It pledged to end to what it described as Ukraine’s
“provocative actions”, while Russian politicians lined up to denounce Kiev,
saying the incident looked like a calculated attempt by President Petro
Poroshenko to increase his popularity ahead of an election next year. Ukraine’s
foreign ministry said in a statement it wanted a clear response to the incident
from the international community.
“Russia’s provocative actions
in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov have crossed the line and become
aggressive,” it said. “Russian ships have violated our freedom of maritime
navigation and unlawfully used force against Ukrainian naval ships.”
Both countries have accused
each other of harassing each other’s shipping in Sea of Azov in the past and
the U.S. State Department in August said Russia’s actions looked designed to
destabilize Ukraine, which has two major industrial ports there.
