The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia have supported the speedy completion of the delimitation of the Azov and Black Seas and the Kerch Strait.
“We have confirmed the importance of the speedy completion of the maritime delimitation in the Azov and Black Seas and the Kerch Strait,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said at a press conference after a meeting of the subcommittee on international cooperation of the Russian-Ukrainian interstate commission in Rostov-on-Don on Oct.,28.
He said that the settlement of this issue would help to develop the activity of Ukraine and Russia in these waters and avoid tragic incidents, including the one that occurred in the Azov Sea on July, 17, 2013.
Kozhara said that work was also continuing on the demarcation of the Ukrainian- Russian border.
As reported, a Ukrainian fishing vessel and a Russian patrol boat collided in the Sea of Azov off the coast of the Russian village of Vorontsovka at about 1800 on July, 17.
The fishing boat capsized and, as a result, four Ukrainians died and one survived. The Ukrainian survivor, Oleksandr Fedorovych, underwent surgery on July, 19 in a hospital in Yeysk, in Russia’s Krasnodar territory.
A criminal case against the surviving fisherman is being investigated in Russia. The Russian law enforcement authorities have already charged the Ukrainian national under Part 3, Article 256 of the Russian Criminal Code (illegal fishing). Fedorovych is facing up to two years in prison.
The length of the maritime border between Ukraine and Russia is 321 kilometers.
