PACE passes resolution on Russia’s aggression in Sea of Azov
Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has supported the resolution on escalation in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.
Censor.NET reports citing the head of Ukraine delegation to PACE Volodymyr Ariev's Facebook page.
"PACE resolution on the Sea of Azov we have been working on for the last two months has passed. 103 votes of support! I congratulate the delegation on an excellent result!"- the message reads.
PACE resolution once again recognizes Ukraine borders as of February 2014. The document also condemns the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge, which violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
In addition, the resolution condemns inspections of Ukrainian ships in the Sea of Azov, which is deemed to be a violation of territorial integrity. It also supports the proposal of the European Parliament to deploy an OSCE mission throughout Ukraine (including occupied Crimea). The document also accepts Germany and France as a third party on the monitoring mission to the Kerch Strait, which would guarantee freedom of navigation for all ships in the Strait. The resolution also calls for a release of Ukrainian sailors.
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 Sea of Azov . 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.
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.
Nov. 28, the Russian district court of Simferopol city in occupied 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.
Nov. 30, the sailors were transferred to Moscow: 21 Ukrainians were brought to Moscow Lefortovo Prison, the three wounded to Matrosskaya Tishyna.
