The European Commission on Wednesday discussed the situation over the incident in the Kerch Strait on November 25 and noted the escalation of violence, Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis has said.
The detention of Ukrainian ships, several wounded – such a development is unacceptable, and we expect Russia to immediately liberate these ships and people and provide medical assistance to the wounded, the vice president of the European Commission said at a press conference in Brussels after a meeting of the European Commission.
International law obliges the Russian Federation to provide free passage to all ships, and we are waiting for Russia to release the ships in this strait. We don’t want to recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia, and we condemn its actions against Ukraine, Dombrovskis said.
He noted that High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini remained in contact with the parties since the moment this problem arose.
She will closely monitor the situation, and this week our Committee on Politics and Security was going to consider how to act in this situation, Dombrovskis said.
On November 25, Russian border guards captured the Yani Kapu tugboat and two small-sized Berdiansk and Nikopol armored artillery boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Navy heading from Odesa to Mariupol. Several Ukrainian sailors were injured. After the seizure, they escorted the vessels to the occupied Kerch. The FSB opened a case under Part 3 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of Russia (illegal crossing of the state border).
