The Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministries have agreed to hold consultations on the incident in the Azov Sea and the fate of Ukrainian fisherman Oleksandr Fedorovych, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis has said.
He said at a briefing that Ukrainian and Russian Foreign Ministers Leonid Kozhara and Sergei Lavrov had had a phone conversation on Tuesday.
“Special attention was paid to the situation surrounding the incident in the Azov Sea on July 17 this year and the fate of Ukrainian citizen Oleksandr Fedorovych. The ministers agreed soon to hold respective consultations in Russia,” Perebyinis said.
He noted that Ukraine thinks the current bilateral legal framework helps ensure the holding of all necessary investigative measures with Fedorovych in Ukraine.
“We also expect the Russian side to adopt a constructive position regarding a joint impartial investigation into all of the circumstances of this incident along with Ukrainian competent agencies,” he said.
He also said that the life of the Ukrainian fisherman was not in danger.
Perebyinis said that during the conversation the ministers had also discussed the state of preparations for the next meeting of the subcommittee on international cooperation of the Ukrainian- Russian interstate commission.
As reported, a Ukrainian fishing vessel and a Russian patrol board collided in the Sea of Azov off the coast of the Russian village of Vorontsovka at about 1800 on July 17, 2013.
The fishing boat overturned and as a result four Ukrainians died and one survived. The Ukrainian survivor, Oleksandr Fedorovych, underwent surgery in a Yeysk hospital in Russia’s Krasnodar territory on July 19.
The prosecutor’s office of Mariupol, Donetsk region, opened a criminal case over the incident in the Sea of Azov. The Mariupol prosecutor’s office department overseeing compliance with transportation regulations entered the accident data into the unified register of pre-trial inquiries under Article 291 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (violation of transportation rules). The Mariupol investigative department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s Donetsk railroad division was assigned to investigate the accident.
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.
On August 30, Kozhara sent a letter to Lavrov expressing concern over long absence of appropriate reaction of Moscow to Russian border guards’ actions in the Sea of Azov, which led to four Ukrainian citizens’ deaths and has complicated the return of injured Fedorovych to his homeland.
Ukraine is ready to ensure that the necessary investigative procedures will be carried out with Fedorovych in Ukraine in accordance with the international agreements existing between the two countries, Azarov said.
The participation of the Ukrainian competent bodies would assist finding out the truth and preventing such tragedies from occurring in the future, Azarov said. “I propose immediately starting consular-legal consultations on this issue between the heads of our ministries’ profile departments,” he said.
