US, EU may stiffen sanctions on Russia amid Kerch Strait crisis, Envoy Volker says
U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker says the U.S. and European countries may beef up sanctions against Russia or impose additional ones over captured Ukrainian sailors and seizure of vessels.
As reported by Censor.NET citing Interfax-Ukraine, Volker told the U.S. government-funded Voice of America news agency.
Some of our European allies spoke about new sanctions or the strengthening of the existing sanctions. I think this is a worthy idea, we will consider it, Volker said.
He noted that Russia should release the captured Ukrainian sailors and the ships as a gesture of goodwill before the holidays.
They were unreasonably attacked in open waters, arrested. They (Russians) must resort to de-escalation of the situation and return them, he said, adding that maintaining attention on the fate of the Ukrainian sailors should contribute to their release.
Do not forget about them, so that attention remains focused on their fate, Volker said. He said Russia should restore dialogue with Ukraine on the basis of the 2003 Treaty on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.
Both countries have access to the Sea of Azov. Both countries have the right and the need to use the sea for traffic. Next, we must return to a broader discussion on how to end the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Volker said.
On Nov. 25, Russian border vessels committed aggressive actions against three Ukrainian ships that set sail from the port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol in the Azov Sea. After that, Russian special forces opened fire on the Ukrainian tugboat Yany Kapu, small armored artillery boats Berdiansk and Nikopol in the Kerch Strait and seized them. There were 23 sailors on board the ships, and six of them were wounded.
Russia announced its intention to try detained Ukrainian sailors for allegedly illegal crossing of the Russian state border.
On Nov. 26, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on the situation in Ukraine related to the latest developments in the Black and Azov Seas.
Later on the same day, Ukraine's parliament gave the green light to a presidential decree on the introduction of martial law for 30 days in 10 regions of Ukraine – Vinnytsia region, Luhansk region, Mykolaiv region, Odesa region, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Chernihiv region, Kherson region, Donetsk region and Zaporizhia region, as well as the inland waters of the Azov-Kerch water area.
On Nov. 28, the Russian rubberstamp district court of Simferopol city in Crimea arrested 24 Ukrainian sailors, who had been captured by Russian FSB near the Kerch Strait, for two months. They all face six years in prison.
