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MOSCOW – The Ukrainian parliament voted Monday to impose martial law in the country in order to fight what its president described as "growing aggression" in Moscow after a naval confrontation that took place on weekends off from the Crimean peninsula. neighbors.
Western leaders and diplomats urged both sides to defuse the conflict, and the United States accused Russia of what it called "illegal conduct" for the Sunday incident at the Black Sea.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other in the dispute that has only exacerbated tensions since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and supported the separatists from the east of the country. Ukraine with clandestine support, including troops and weapons.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked Kiev lawmakers to introduce martial law, which the country did not do even at the height of the clashes in the east of the country, which killed around 10,000 people.
After a five-hour debate, Parliament overwhelmingly approved its proposal, voting to impose martial law for 30 days.
Poroshenko said that it was necessary because of information on "a very serious threat of ground operation against Ukraine". He did not specify.
"Martial law does not mean declaring war," he said. "It is presented with the sole purpose of strengthening the defense of Ukraine in light of the growing aggression of Russia."
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has already announced earlier in the day that its troops were on combat alert in the country.
Approved measures included partial mobilization and strengthening of the country's air defense. It also contained vague steps, such as "strengthening" anti-terrorism measures and "information security" that could restrict certain rights and freedoms.
Poroshenko's critics reacted to the call of martial law with suspicion, wondering why the Sunday incident deserved such an answer. Poroshenko's approval ratings are in free fall and there are fears that he will postpone the presidential election scheduled for March.
Just before the parliament met to vote, Poroshenko sought to alleviate these fears by issuing a statement revising his original 60 to 30-day martial law proposal to "remove pretexts from political speculation".
Oksana Syroid, deputy speaker of parliament, pointed out that martial law has not been introduced in 2014 or 2015, despite large-scale fighting in the east of the country. A state of emergency "would offer a wonderful chance to manipulate the presidential elections," she said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Mr Poroshenko had assured him that martial law would not have a negative impact on the elections.
Poroshenko's appeal also scandalized Ukrainian far-right groups who called for a break in diplomatic relations with Russia. Hundreds of protesters from the National Corps party held up flares in the snowy streets of Kiev in front of Parliament and accused the president of using martial law for his own purposes.
But Poroshenko insisted that it was necessary because what had happened in the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia "was not a coincidence", adding that "this "was not yet the outcome".
Russian Coast Guard ships fired on Ukrainian Navy ships near the Strait, which separates the Black Sea from the Azov Sea, injuring six Ukrainian sailors and eventually seizing the ships and their crews. It was the first open military confrontation between the two neighbors since the annexation of Crimea.
The Ukraine said that its vessels were heading towards the sea of Azov in accordance with international maritime rules, while Russia accused of not having obtained permission to cross the narrow strait crossed by a 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) bridge that Russia ended this year.
While a 2003 treaty designated the Kerch Strait and the Azov Sea as shared territorial waters, Russia has been striving to exercise greater control over the passage since the war. ;annexation.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Twitter that the dispute was not a coincidence and that Russia had engaged in "deliberately planned hostilities". to gain additional benefits from the situation, expecting the United States and Europe to blindly take the provocateurs' side.
Klimkin told reporters in Kiev that the government was in talks with the Red Cross to ensure that captive sailors are treated as prisoners of war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not say whether the Kremlin regarded them as prisoners of war.
At a meeting of the United States Security Council, US Ambassador Nikki Haley urged Russia to "put an immediate end to its illicit behavior" in the Black Sea.
Anne Gueguen, Deputy French Permanent Representative to the UN, has called for the release of sailors and ships.
But Russia has described Ukraine's actions as "dangerous". Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council that the incident was another example of Ukraine's attempts to provoke Russia for political ends.
The European Union and NATO have called for restraint on both sides. NATO stated that Stoltenberg had expressed the support of the US-led military alliance for "the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, including its full rights of navigation in territorial waters". under international law ".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also spoke on the phone with Poroshenko to voice his concerns and stress the need for de-escalation and dialogue, his office said.
Spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May, James Slack, said the incident was "further evidence of Russia's destabilizing behavior in the region and its constant violation of the country's territorial integrity." ;Ukraine".
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The editors of the associated press, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Belarus and Angela Charlton in Paris, also contributed.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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