Putin for the first time commented on the incident in the Kerch Strait

The Russian leader at the plenary session of the Russia Calling Investment Forum has described this provocative incident organized by the current Ukrainian government and President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, on the eve of the presidential elections in Ukraine.

According to him, the Ukrainian leader seeks to exacerbate the situation in Ukraine and create "insurmountable obstacles" for his competitors in the presidential elections scheduled for March 31, 2019.

Earlier, the Russian president did not comment publicly on the incident.

On Sunday, November 25, Russian border guards made use of force and arrested three Ukrainian warships in the Kerch Strait (two boats, Berdyansk and Nikopol, as well as a tug Yana Kapu), as well as members of their crews. arrested by the court). Three Ukrainian sailors injured during the arrest were taken to the hospital.

The FSB has opened criminal proceedings for violation of the state border. According to the Russian Special Service, Ukrainian vessels without prior notification pbaded through Russian territorial waters, did not respond to stop requests and maneuvered in a dangerous manner. The Ukrainian Navy, in turn, claims to have informed in advance the Russian part controlling the Kerch Strait of the movement of ships.

On Monday, November 26, the FSB released a video of the testimony of the Ukrainian army detained. One of them, Vladimir Lesovoy, said that Ukrainian ships had crossed the Russian border and had deliberately ignored the demands for control of Russian border guards. According to him, he was aware that the actions of the grouping of ships were provocative. The second, Andrew Drach, who, according to the FSB, is a member of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), also acknowledged that Ukrainian ships had entered Russian territorial waters. The commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Igor Voronchenko, said that Ukrainian sailors had given false testimony under pressure.

According to the FSB, Ukrainian vessels acted "on the direct orders of the Kyiv authorities" and their actions were coordinated by two SBU officers. On November 27, the Ukrainian secret service confirmed the presence of military counterintelligence officers aboard ships. According to the SBU, they still accompany various Ukrainian military units.

Because of the incident occurred in the Kerch Strait, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared martial law in the adjoining regions of Russia for 30 days. He demanded that Moscow immediately release the Ukrainian military and hand them over to Kiev with the ships. Poroshenko said that immediately after the incident, he had tried to contact the Russian president, but that he had not responded to a telephone conversation request. As reported on the Kremlin website on November 27, Putin recounted what had happened during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in which he reported on the "provocative actions of the Ukrainian part ". Putin called the incident in the Kerch Strait a flagrant violation of international law by Ukraine and also expressed the hope that Berlin will affect the Ukrainian authorities, the Kremlin said.

Shortly before Putin's speech at the forum, the Kremlin announced that "in the context of a dangerous incident provoked by the Kiev authorities," the Russian president discussed "stability and security issues in the region of the Black Sea "with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.