Kiev asks for western presence in sea it shares with Russia, saying Putin is blocking ports

The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, has called on Nato to deploy naval ships to the Sea of Azov to “provide security” amid a deepening crisis with Russia.

Nato foreign ministers are due to meet next Monday in Brussels and will assess their existing presence in the area, but it is unlikely they will send warships to the area.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, insisted there was no military solution, even after describing Moscow’s actions as unacceptable. She said she would be talking directly to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, at the G20 summit in Argentina, which starts on Friday.

This week’s renewed crisis in Russian-European relations erupted after Moscow seized three Ukrainian naval ships and their crews on Sunday in waters off Russian-annexed Crimea.

The ships were trying to make their way through the Kerch strait to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. Ukraine said Russia used a tanker to block access to the Kerch strait, which under a treaty is shared territory. Russia said the vessels illegally entered its waters.

On Thursday Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his own planned G20 meeting with Putin, blaming Russia’s failure to return the seized ships and sailors.

Play Video 1:16 Russia seizes Ukrainian naval ships in major escalation of tensions – video

The Crimean courts have put 24 Ukrainian sailors under two-month pre-trial detention. Some of the sailors have been flown to Moscow, two of their lawyers told AFP on Thursday.

Ukraine claimed Russia was escalating the crisis by imposing a de facto blockade on two Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov and barring ships from leaving and entering via the Russian-controlled Kerch strait.

Russia has blocked 35 merchant ships from leaving or entering the Sea of Azov, Ukraine asserted. The infrastructure ministry said on Thursday 18 ships were stuck in the Black Sea, waiting to pass through the Kerch strait into the Sea of Azov, and another 17 vessels were unable to sail out of the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk.

Kerch strait confrontation: what happened and why does it matter? Read more

The Kremlin denied it was restricting shipping and said if there was any blockage it was because of bad weather.

In his most fiery rhetoric of the crisis, Poroshenko accused Putin of wanting to annex Ukraine, telling the German newspaper Bild on Thursday: “Don’t believe Putin’s lies. Putin wants the old Russian empire back. Crimea, Donbass, the whole country.” Likening Putin to a Russian tsar, he said: “He believes his empire cannot function without Ukraine – he sees us as his colony.”

He called on Germany to increase existing economic sanctions against Russia and again urged Berlin to rethink its plans to allow Russia to build a new gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, which he said would leave the EU even more dependent on Russian energy and deprive Ukraine of badly needed income derived from its existing pipeline.

Merkel said the pipeline would go ahead, adding Germany would “ensure Ukraine remains an important transit country”.

Speaking at a Ukrainian business forum in Berlin, she said: “We must do everything to help places like Mariupol …We can’t allow this city to just be cut off, thus indirectly isolating further parts of Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian side has asked us to act wisely ... there is no military solution to these problems, we have to emphasise that.”

In a tweet sent en route to the G20 summit, Trump said: “Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting … I look forward to a meaningful Summit again as soon as this situation is resolved!” .

Russia claims the Ukrainian vessels ignored “the legitimate demands of the coastguard of the border service and the Black Sea fleet to immediately halt, and end performing dangerous manoeuvres”. It says a chase involving some gunfire ensued in order to stop the Ukrainian ships, which were detained in Russian territorial waters.



The Ukrainian authorities have introduced martial law in selected regions along the border with Russia as well as along the coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov for 30 days. It includes an order that only Ukrainians can enter the country. Poroshenko also tweeted on Thursday that he would impose unspecified restrictions on Russian citizens in his country and spoke of banning some foreign currency and banking operations in Ukraine.

Putin and Poroshenko motives open to question in Kerch crisis | Simon Tisdall Read more

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, offered to play a mediator role between Ukraine and Russia alongside Merkel. He has held phone talks with leaders on both sides, and said he would continue discussing the issue with Putin and Trump at the G20 summit.

Kiev has called for Russian vessels to be banned from passing through the Bosphorus strait in Turkey as a reprisal for the Kerch strait standoff.

Merkel put the crisis in a wider context of Russian interference in eastern Europe, accusing Russia of creating instability not only in eastern Ukraine, but also in Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia. “There is a belt of countries that cannot develop as they want. In the face of this, we cannot close our eyes as Germans.” </s> Action by NATO could further inflame tensions between the two countries

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, second from right, speak with soldiers during a military training at a military base in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov, 28, 2018. Russia and Ukraine traded blame after Russian border guards on Sunday opened fire on three Ukrainian navy vessels and eventually seized them and their crews. The incident put the two countries on war footing and raised international concern. (Mykola Lazarenko, Presidential Press Service via AP)

The Ukrainian president has urged NATO to deploy naval ships to the Sea of Azov, a proposal that has been sharply criticized by Russia as a provocation that could further inflame tensions between the two countries.

In an interview in the German daily Bild, published Thursday, President Petro Poroshenko laid out his hope that NATO would “relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security” against the expansionist ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His call follows the weekend incident in which the Russian coast guard fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels and their crews. Russia charged that the Ukrainian vessels had failed to obtain permission to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait between Russia’s mainland and the Crimean Peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine insisted that its vessels were operating in line with international maritime rules.

“Putin wants nothing less but to occupy the sea,” Poroshenko said. “The only language he understands is the unity of the Western world.”

Putin, for his part, criticized the West for what he described as connivance with Ukraine’s “provocation.”

“The authorities in Kyiv are successfully selling anti-Russian sentiments as they have nothing else left to sell,” he said. “They can get away with whatever they do. If they want to eat babies for breakfast today, they will likely serve them too.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she plans to press Russian President Vladimir Putin at this weekend’s G-20 summit in Argentina to urge the release of the ships and crews.

“We can only resolve this in talks with one another because there is no military solution to all of these conflicts,” she said.

NATO said that it already has a strong presence in the Black Sea region. The alliance’s spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said NATO ships routinely patrol and exercise in the Black Sea, and that they have spent 120 days there this year compared to 80 in 2017.

She noted that several NATO allies conduct air policing and reconnaissance flights in the region, adding that members Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey border the Black Sea and have their own military equipment deployed.

“There is already a lot of NATO in the Black Sea, and we will continue to assess our presence in the region,” Lungescu said.

While NATO condemned the Russian action, the alliance is not expected to send ships into the Sea of Azov, a deployment that could trigger a confrontation with Russia. A 2003 treaty between Russia and Ukraine stipulates that permission from both countries is required for warships from others to enter the internal sea.

In response to Sunday’s events, Poroshenko has imposed martial law in much of the country, a move that won parliamentary backing. Putin accused his Ukrainian counterpart of provoking the naval incident in a bid to impose martial law to shore up his sagging popularity and sideline competitors ahead of March’s presidential election.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Poroshenko’s request for NATO to send warships into the Sea of Azov is “clearly aimed at provoking further tensions,” adding that it was driven by the Ukrainian leader’s “electoral and domestic policy motives.”

Ukraine has released what it said was the exact location where its ships were fired on by Russia, saying they were in international waters west of the Kerch Strait. Russia, meanwhile, insisted the Ukrainian vessels were in its territorial waters and refused to communicate with the Russian coast guard, or accept a Russian pilot to guide them through the narrow strait.

“What were the border guards supposed to do?” Putin said Wednesday. “They fulfilled their duty to protect the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. If they had done something differently, they should have been put on trial for that.”

Ukraine and Russia have been in a tug-of-war since Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Russia has also supported separatists in Ukraine’s east with clandestine dispatches of troops and weapons. The fighting there has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014 but eased somewhat after a 2015 truce.

The naval incident marked the first overt collision between Russian and Ukrainian militaries since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. It has fueled fears of a wider conflict and has drawn strong criticism of Russia from the U.S. and its allies.

Amid the tensions, the Russian military said it had deployed another batch of the long-range, S-400 air defence missile systems to Crimea.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he discussed the possibility of a Turkish mediation to resolve tensions and held separate telephone conversations with Putin and Poroshenko on Thursday.

Asked about the Turkish offer, Peskov responded that “Moscow is grateful to all those willing to help de-escalate the tensions provoked by the Ukrainian side, but doesn’t see any need for mediation efforts.”

“Those who have such opportunities could help by exerting influence on the Ukrainian authorities,” Peskov said.

Yuras Karmanau And Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> The Security Council will convene tomorrow at 11am to discuss the escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Mrs Haley tweeted: “An emergency Security Council meeting has been called for tomorrow at 11am.” The meeting comes after the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN called for an emergency meeting to be held.

A NATO spokesperson said it "fully supports Ukraine's sovereignty and its territorial integrity" and called on Russia "to ensure unhindered access to Ukrainian ports in the Azov Sea”. The spokesman said: "NATO is closely monitoring developments in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, and we are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities. We call for restraint and de-escalation." The mission said: “Ukraine has requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting due to Russian military aggression in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov: Three Ukrainian vessels attacked and seized, at least six Ukrainian servicemen wounded.” However, Russia’s FSB claims only three people were injured.

Russia also argued the vessels had illegally entered their territory. Despite Russia’s claims, Ukraine has said they had informed Russia about their plans to move their ships to the Sea of Azov. Ukraine said the ships were going from the port of Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he will ask the Ukrainian parliament to declare martial law.

Parliament will vote on whether or not to declare martial law on Monday. If martial law is implemented, then it will see civil liberties restricted and the government granted more power. The National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine said it supports the implementing of martial law for up to 60 days. The three ships were intercepted by Russia with Ukraine claiming that one of the vessels was rammed.

The Ukrainian vessels continued through the Kerch Strait before it was stopped by a tanker that Russia had placed under a bridge. Protests were held following the confrontation with flares being thrown in front of the Russian Embassy in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. In 2014, the Russian military invaded the region of Crimea and annexed it as part of Russia. The land grab has continued to be an area of contention between Ukraine and Russia who both claim the land as theirs. </s> KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Latest on raised tensions between Russia and Ukraine (all times local):

NATO says it already has a strong presence in the Black Sea region, after Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko urged members of the military alliance like Germany to send warships amid tensions with Russia.

Spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Thursday that NATO ships routinely patrol and exercise in the Black Sea, noting that NATO ships have spent 120 days there this year compared to 80 in 2017.

She said several NATO allies conduct air policing and reconnaissance flights in the region, and that members Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey border the Black Sea and have their own military equipment deployed.

Lungescu said “there is already a lot of NATO in the Black Sea, and we will continue to assess our presence in the region.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she plans to press Russian President Vladimir Putin at this weekend’s G-20 summit in Argentina about his country’s seizure of three Ukrainian ships and their crews.

Merkel told a Ukrainian business summit in Berlin on Thursday that Germany is urging the release of the ships and crews and that she would confront Putin at the summit.

She says “we can only resolve this in talks with one another because there is no military solution to all of these conflicts.”

Merkel says that beyond Ukraine, Russia has been aggressive in several other nations creating “a belt of countries that cannot develop in the way they want and we can’t, as Germans, close our eyes to that.”

The Kremlin has sharply criticized the Ukrainian president’s plea for NATO to deploy naval ships to the Sea of Azov amid a standoff with Russia.

President Petro Poroshenko made the call in an interview with the German daily Bild published Thursday, hoping that NATO countries “are now ready to relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Poroshenko’s request is “clearly aimed at provoking further tensions” and driven by the Ukrainian leader’s “electoral and domestic policy motives.”

In Sunday’s confrontation, Russian ships fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels and their crews trying to pass into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait between Russia’s mainland and Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has discussed the possibility of a Turkish mediation to resolve tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the Sea of Azov.

Erdogan made the comments early Thursday, hours after he held separate telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The Turkish leader said: “Can we assume a mediator role? We discussed this subject with both sides.”

Erdogan said he would hold more talks concerning the standoff with both Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G-20 summit meeting in Buenos Aires.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine flared on Sunday, when Russian border guards fired on three Ukrainian vessels and seized the ships and the crew.

The Ukrainian president is urging NATO to deploy naval ships to the Sea of Azov amid a standoff with Russia.

President Petro Poroshenko made the call in an interview with the German daily Bild published Thursday, saying that “we hope that states within NATO are now ready to relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security.”

In Sunday’s confrontation, the Russian coast guard fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels that sought to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait, between Russia’s mainland and the Crimean Peninsula it annexed from Ukraine.

Ukraine insisted that its vessels were operating in line with international maritime rules, while Russia said they had failed to get permission to pass. </s> Seagulls whirl over the docks of Ukraine's port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov as huge cranes once used to unload ships' cargoes stand idle.

The uncharacteristic quiet is the product of rising tensions in the small sea, the waters of which Russia and Ukraine agreed to share more than a decade ago, but is now the latest theatre in the bitter conflict between the two nations.

Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 means ships must now pass through a narrow strait bordered by Russian-controlled territory on both sides, while Kremlin-backed rebel regions of eastern Ukraine are uncomfortably close to Mariupol.

In a growing crisis, Kiev and the West accuse Russia of deliberately blocking ships from entering the sea.

"The whole time I've worked here, I've never seen anything like it," said Sergiy Kostyrko, a tanned foreman who has worked at the Mariupol docks for 23 years. "Ships have become very rare visitors to our port."

Ukraine criticises what it sees as a deliberate move by Moscow to block the Kerch Strait, the only shipping route into the Azov Sea, where Ukraine's commercial ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk are crucial gateways for its metallurgy industry exports.

Kiev has warned that Russia could even launch an attack on Mariupol.

Russia is trying to block Ukraine's ports on the Sea of Azov acting "to escalate tensions and, it cannot be ruled out, to carry out a military operation (including) attacks on Mariupol", Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko declared in July.

In a sign of the conflict's growing scale, the United States has condemned Russia for impeding maritime transit as part of a campaign "to undermine and destabilise Ukraine".

"We call on Russia to cease its harassment of international shipping in the Sea of Azov," the US Department of State said in a statement late August.

The European Union's delegation to Ukraine said earlier this month that Russia "has increasingly and deliberately hindered and delayed the passage of vessels, including vessels from EU member states".

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova insisted this week that "Russia's actions in checking ships are aimed solely at security."

"It is precisely Kiev's actions, those of its uncontrollable radicals, that force Russia to strengthen security measures," she said.

The problems started upon Russia's completion this spring of a bridge over the Kerch Strait connecting its southern mainland to Crimea.

The link spanning 19 kilometres (12 miles) was one of Moscow's mega-projects personally endorsed by President Vladimir Putin, who opened it in May at the wheel of a lorry.

The bridge's 35-metre arches are too low for some ships to pass under and there are also restrictions on length.

In addition, ships heading under the bridge now face lengthy checks by Russian maritime border guards, causing additional financial losses for both ports and shipping companies.

"The check takes three to four hours but waiting for the inspectors takes up to five days," said Mariupol port director Oleksandr Oliynyk. Previously "the ships would be stopped for maybe 10 hours."

The result for Ukraine is a significant drop in shipping traffic and subsequent economic losses.

Shipping companies lose between $5,000 and $15,000 with each day of delay for a cargo in the Kerch Strait, Oliynyk said. "At some point, the ship's owner will say 'That's it, I'm not interested'."

Ukrainian media reported that the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk saw earnings fall by almost a quarter during the first seven months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

So far this is purely a trade conflict, but there is a risk it could escalate into a military standoff between Ukraine and Russia, on top of Kiev's ongoing four-year war with Kremlin-backed rebels in the east that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Mariupol is located just 20 kilometres west of the frontline with Russian-backed separatists.

Russia moved an additional five ships into the Sea of Azov in May, the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based research institute, wrote in a report.

Kiev in July claimed Russia had some 40 warships in the Sea of Azov.

This month, following an emergency meeting of Poroshenko's top brass, Ukraine bolstered its naval force in the Sea of Azov with two gunboats.

The gunboats were deployed "to prevent the illegal stopping of ships by an aggressor country," deputy infrastructure minister Yuriy Lavrenyuk said. </s> Ukrainian policemen guard the Russian embassy building with smoke behind during Ukrainian activists rally in Kiev, Ukraine, 25 November 2018. Russia has seized three Ukrainian vessels amid their leaving the Kerch Strait; Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is gathering the Military Cabinet over the incident.

MOSCOW – Ukrainian lawmakers were set to consider a presidential request for the introduction of martial law in the country on Monday following an incident in which Russian coast guard ships fired on Ukrainian navy vessels.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was also called for Monday. The European Union and NATO called for restraint from both sides.

The Ukrainian navy said six of its seamen were wounded when Russian coast guards opened fire on three Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait and then seized them late Sunday.

The two nations traded blame over the incident that further escalated tensions that have soared since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine said its vessels were heading to the Sea of Azov in line with international maritime rules, while Russia charged that they had failed to obtain a permission to pass through the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from the Russian mainland.

More: Russia fires on Ukrainian vessels in Black Sea; 2 wounded

The narrow strait is the only passage between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It’s spanned by a 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) bridge that Russia completed this year.

Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, chaired an emergency meeting of his Cabinet early Monday and asked parliament to introduce martial law in response to what he described as Russian aggression.

“We consider it as an act of aggression against our state and a very serious threat,” the president said. “Unfortunately, there are no ‘red lines’ for the Russian Federation.”

The Ukrainian military said that six of the 23 crew on board its three vessels were wounded. Russia’s Federal Security Service that is in charge of the coast guard said that three Ukrainian sailors were lightly injured and given medical assistance. It said the Ukrainian boats were towed to the nearby port of Kerch.

Russia closed the Kerch Strait for sea traffic Sunday by positioning a tanker under the bridge spanning it. It reopened the route early Monday.

The seizure of the Ukrainian ships followed a tense situation in which the three Ukrainian vessels were maneuvering near the Kerch Strait for hours shadowed by Russian coast guard boats.

The incident came after months of tensions and incidents in the Sea of Azov that involved inspections and seizures of ships.

While a 2003 treaty designates the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov as shared territorial waters, Russia has sought to assert greater control over the passage since the annexation of Crimea.

Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Belarus, contributed to this report. </s> The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday after Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships off the coast of Crimea, the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley wrote on Twitter.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), which oversees the country's border guard service, said it was forced to open fire on the ships on Sunday after they illegally entered Russian territorial waters.

"There is irrefutable evidence that Kiev prepared and orchestrated provocations," it said. "These materials will soon be made public."

Three Ukrainian sailors wounded in the clashes were in a stable condition and receiving medical care, it added.

Earlier in the day, Russia blocked access to the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea, accusing the same three Ukrainian vessels of entering its territorial waters without permission.

The two Ukrainian navy artillery boats and a tugboat were transiting from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait, a narrow passage between Crimea and the Russian mainland.

The Ukrainian navy said a Russian coast guard vessel responded to their presence by ramming the tugboat, resulting in damage to the ship's engines and hull.

Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, shared a video on Twitter purporting to show the moment the Russian ship rammed the tugboat.

Read more: Five years after Euromaidan, Ukraine's new reformers battle corruption

Ukraine said Russia's actions broke international law and vowed a "diplomatic legal response." The FSB, it insisted, had received advance notice about the ships' movements.

President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday that he would propose parliament declare martial law. This would restrict civil liberties and give state institutions greater power.

The European Union and NATO separately called for restraint on both sides and for Russia to restore freedom of passage via the Kerch strait.

Although a 2003 treaty designates the tow areas as shared territorial waters, Russia has been asserting greater control over the passage since 2015.

The latest dispute has raised concerns about a possible escalation of a wider conflict between the two neighbors.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 to widespread international condemnation. Since then, Ukraine has fought a civil war against pro-Russian separatists in the country's eastern regions.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships on Sunday, accusing them of illegally entering its waters in the Sea of Azov, in a dramatic spike in tensions that raises fears of a wider escalation.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg held phone talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and officials from the two sides will meet later in the day.

“The Secretary-General expressed NATO’s full support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including its full navigational rights in its territorial waters under international law,” NATO said of Stoltenberg’s call.

Kiev demanded the return of its ships and sailors, denouncing “another act of armed aggression” by Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The Ukrainian military has been put on high alert and the country’s parliament is to vote on a request by Poroshenko to impose martial law for 60 days.

Ukraine has also urged its Western allies to step up existing sanctions implemented against Russia over Crimea and its role in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine between the government and pro-Moscow separatists.

Moscow blamed Kiev for the incident, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accusing Ukraine of a planned provocation and of using “dangerous methods” that put ships in the area at risk.

Russian denials drew a barbed response on Twitter from the US Special Envoy for Ukraine Negotiations, Kurt Volker.

“Russia rams Ukrainian vessel peacefully travelling toward a Ukrainian port. Russia seizes ships and crew and then accuses Ukraine of provocation???” Volker tweeted.

Tensions have been building over the Kerch Strait, where Russia has built a new bridge that gives it a land connection to Crimea.

Kiev has accused Moscow of blocking access for Ukrainian ships through the strait, the only way in and out of the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.

The European Union warned Sunday that tensions in the Azov Sea and Kerch Strait had “increased dangerously” and demanded Russia restore freedom of passage. </s> UNITED NATIONS, November 26. /TASS/. Russia has asked for the convocation of an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Sea of Azov on November 26, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky has told reporters.

"In connection with the dangerous developments in the Sea of Azov and subsequent events, Russia requested an urgent convocation of an open Security Council meeting in the morning of November 26 on the maintaining international peace and security agenda item," he said. "The meeting is tentatively scheduled for 19:00 Moscow time."

On Sunday, November 25, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) border directorate for Crimea reported that three Ukrainian warships had illegally crossed Russia’s state border in the Black Sea and entered Russia’s territorial waters performing dangerous maneuvers. Later on, the FSB said that two more Ukrainian warships had sailed off from Berdyansk to join the three vessels. However, they later turned back.

All three Ukrainian Navy vessels, which violated the Russian state border, were detained in the Black Sea, with weapons used to force them to stop. Three wounded Ukrainian military servicemen received medical care, the FSB said, adding that there were no threat to their lives. A criminal case has been initiated over violation of Russia’s state border.

The FSB stressed that "before making such dangerous and irresponsible decisions, the Kiev leadership should have thought about possible consequences of its actions.".
Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan says the ports of Berdiansk and Mariupol are effectively under blockade as Russia refuses to let any Ukrainian vessels leave or enter the Sea of Azov. President Petro Poroshenko calls on NATO to send warships to patrol the Sea of Azov.