Tensions soar as Moscow seizes three Ukrainian navy vessels

FE Team | Published: November 26, 2018 23:48:34 | Updated: November 27, 2018 00:14:01

The European Union has warned tensions between Russia and Ukraine have reached dangerous levels after Russia's coast guard seized three Ukrainian naval ships by force near Moscow-annexed Crimea, report agencies.
Ukraine's navy claimed Russians had opened fire and rammed its ships in the Black Sea.
In an unprecedented move, Russia confirmed it had used weapons before seizing the vessels "in order to stop the Ukrainian military ships".
Russia confirmed "three Ukrainian navy ships were boarded and searched" on Sunday and its Federal Security Service (FSB) quickly accused Ukraine of provoking the heavy handed response.
The tense standoff happened as two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tug boat sailed off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine said six soldiers were injured in the attack but the FSB argued this, saying only three had suffered non-life threatening injuries and were given medical treatment.
Ukraine's parliament was to decide whether to bring in martial law, after the capture of three of its naval vessels by Russia, till the filing the report at 10pm.
The incident marks a major escalation of tension between the two countries.
This is the first time the two militaries have come into open conflict in recent years, although Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country.
The captured crew members are now being questioned in Kerch, Russia says.
On Sunday morning, Ukraine's Berdyansk and Nikopol gunboats, and the Yani Kapu tug, tried to sail from the Black Sea port of Odessa to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov.
Under a 2003 treaty between the governments in Moscow and Kiev, the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov are shared territorial waters.
The European Union's UN Security Council envoys urged Russia on Monday to "restore freedom of passage" in the Kerch Strait, where Russia has seized three Ukrainian ships.
The diplomats from France, Britain, Sweden, Poland and The Netherlands issued a statement voicing "concern about the recent escalation of tension in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait", and they urged Russia to release detained Ukrainian soldiers and return captured vessels.
France said Monday nothing appeared to justify Russia's use of force against Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait off the coast of Crimea.
"We call on Russia to free as soon as possible the detained Ukrainian sailors and to return the seized ships," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.
"Given our knowledge of the facts to date, nothing appears to justify the use of force by Russia," the spokesman said.
Russia said Monday it had acted strictly within international law during a confrontation this weekend between Russian and Ukrainian navy ships in the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukrainian ships of illegally entering Russian territorial waters and not cooperating with Russian border guards. Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships in the incident on Sunday.
"This situation is a direct consequence of Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014, in violation of international law," the French foreign ministry noted.
"We call on Russia to exercise utmost restraint and to prevent any military escalation," the spokesman added, while underscoring his country's support for Ukrainian territorial integrity within internationally-recognised borders.
"We call on Russia to respect freedom of passage in the Kerch strait along with navigation in Sea of Azov waters," the French spokesman said.