Ukraine asks international partners to ban Russian ships from entering certain ports
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, speaking on the Ukrainian TV, announced that Ukraine and its international partners are discussing the possibility of prohibiting Russian vessels from entering some ports.
“One of the ideas we are talking about is not to allow Russian ships that go from the Azov or the Black Sea into some ports, or not to let in all the ships, as well as limit all the possible contacts in principle,” said Klimkin.
He noted that Ukraine and its international partners are discussing many ideas of punishing Russia for its “aggression in the Sea of Azov”, and they are not exclusively economic.
"We are discussing and convincing, but when it will be, I honestly cannot say, because the European Union and the United States have their own procedures," said the minister.
He expressed hope that international partners would strengthen previously imposed sanctions against Russia.
Previously, 97 deputies of the European Parliament called on the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Federica Mogherini, and the EU countries’ governments to impose sanctions against Russia after the attack on Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait.
On November 25, in the Kerch Strait, the Russian military seized the Ukrainian military boats Berdiansk, Nikopol and the tug Yany Kapu, which sailed from Odessa to the port of Mariupol, crossing from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. They also captured and wounded ships ‘crew members. The Simferopol based court in the Russian annexed Crimea arrested all the sailors for two months, and they were transported from the Crimea to Moscow.