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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia on Sunday prevented three ships of the Ukrainian navy from entering the Azov Sea through the Kerch Strait by placing a huge cargo ship under a Russian-controlled bridge, the two countries blaming the country. Another provocation.
Russian fighter planes fly over a bridge connecting the mainland of Russia to the Crimean peninsula with a cargo ship under it after three ships of the Ukrainian navy have been prevented by Russia from entering the sea. Azov by the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea, Crimea 25 November 2018 REUTERS / Pavlishak Alexey
A bilateral treaty gives both countries the right to use the sea, which separates them and is connected by the narrow strait of Kerch to the Black Sea. But tensions around the sea have intensified since the annexation of Crimea by Ukraine to Russia in 2014.
Moscow is able to control access between the Azov Sea and the Black Sea after having built a bridge that spans the Kerch Strait between Crimea and southern Russia.
A Reuters witness said on Sunday that a cargo freighter had been used to block the canal under the bridge and that he had seen two Russian Sukhoi Su-25 warplanes flying over his head. Russian state television announced that Russian combat helicopters had also been deployed in the region.
Tensions surfaced on Sunday after Russia attempted to intercept the three Ukrainian ships – two small armored vehicles and a tug – in the Black Sea, accusing them of illegally entering Russian territorial waters.
The Ukrainian Navy said that a Russian border guardship had struck the tug, which had damaged it during an incident that would have shown Russia was behaving aggressively and illegally.
He pointed out that his ships were perfectly entitled to be in their shoes and that they were en route from the port of Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol, a journey that forced them to cross the Strait from Kerch.
Russian border guards accused Ukraine of not having informed her in advance of the trip, which Kiev denied, and claimed that Ukrainian vessels were maneuvering dangerously and ignoring her instructions in the past. purpose of stirring up tensions.
He pledged to put an end to what he termed "provocative actions" of Ukraine, as Russian politicians prepared to denounce Kiev, claiming that the incident resembled to a calculated attempt of President Petro Poroshenko to increase his popularity before the elections next year.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that he wanted the international community to respond clearly to the incident.
"Russia's provocative actions on the Black Sea and the Azov Sea have crossed the line and have become aggressive," he said. "Russian ships violated our freedom of navigation and illegally used force against Ukrainian warships."
The two countries have accused each other of harassing their navigation vessels in the Azov Sea in the past. The US State Department said in August that Russia's actions were aimed at destabilizing Ukraine, with two major industrial ports.
Additional reports by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; Edited by Mark Potter and Catherine Evans
