You're reading: Foreign Ministry: Kyiv insists on returning survivor of Azov Sea shipwreck to Ukraine

Kyiv is taking all of the necessary steps to protect the rights and interests of Oleksandr Fedorovych, a Ukrainian fisherman who survived a collision with a motorboat of the Russian coast guard in the Azov Sea on July 17, the Foreign Ministry reported.

“On July 30, special Ukrainian-Russian consultations were held in Ukraine, during which Russia requested the holding of a joint investigation of the incident, as well as ensuring the unhindered return of the Ukrainian survivor home, taking into account the humanitarian nature of the situation and his health condition,” the press service of the Foreign Ministry told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

According to the press service, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine together with the Russian Embassy and the Ukrainian Consulate General in Rostov-on-Don provides consular support in the criminal case brought by Russia against the Ukrainian fisherman.

On August 7, a consular officer met with Fedorovych and his lawyer, and had a conversation with the investigator in charge of his case.

The situation is under the special control of the Foreign Minister and the Consulate General of Ukraine in Rostov-on-Don.

As reported, a motorboat of the Coast Guard of the Russian Border Service collided with a Ukrainian fishing launch, which it was allegedly chasing for poaching in Russia’s territorial waters in the Azov Sea near the village of Vorontsovka on July 17. The fishing boat capsized, killing four Ukrainian citizens. One fisherman, Oleksandr Fedorovych, was rescued.

He had a surgery at a hospital in Yeisk, Krasnodar territory, Russia.

A prosecutor’s office of Mariupol, Donetsk region, opened a criminal case regarding the collision, in which four Ukrainian citizens were killed.

Russia, in turn, brought charges against Fedorovych. He was charged with poaching marine resources under Part 3 of Article 256 of the Criminal Code of Russia and was facing up to two years in prison.