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Eastern Europe
December 7, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 22
Russia partially unblocks Sea of Azov ports
Ben Aris in Berlin
Russia has partially unlocked Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said on December 3, reports Reuters.
“Yes, Berdyansk and Mariupol ports are partially unblocked. Vessels make their way to the entrance and exit through the Kerch strait toward Ukrainian ports ... the movement is partially restored,” the ministry quoted Omelyan as saying.
Previous reports said that shipping in the two main Ukrainian ports – Berdyansk and Mariupol — in the Sea of Azov had come to a halt and that no ships had arrived or departed for almost a week. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko kept up
his drive to rally the international community to condemn Russia’s aggression in the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian president said he would file a claim against Russia in the UN International Court over the incident.
“I gave instructions to the minister of foreign affairs to ensure appropriate consular assistance, there were appeals to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and a claim is being developed to the United Nations International Court of Justice regarding the responsibility of the Russian Federation for aggression against our state,” Poroshenko said during the talk show Svoboda Slova on ICTV Channel.
The move provoked a sharp response from Russia, which condemned the ECHR for accepting the case without any supporting documentation or evidence.
"The Russian Ministry of Justice expressed
its concern to the ECHR over the fact that the European court had initiated proceedings in response to the motion substantiated mostly by reference to media reports and containing no
official documents, which could be received by Ukraine from Russia through diplomatic channels and during intergovernmental cooperation, which is standard procedure in such cases," the ministry said, as cited by Tass.
Ukraine has also protested to the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) over the Azov incident. Thirty- four IMO countries supported Ukraine's position, according to the embassy of Ukraine in the UK.
"On December 3 this year, the Ukrainian delega- tion to the Maritime Safety Committee of the Inter- national Maritime Organisation (IMO) expressed a categorical protest against the Russian Federation in connection with its armed attack and capture of three Ukrainian military boats and their crew mem- bers," reads the report as cited by Ukrinform.com.
And finally, and most seriously, Poroshenko proposed withdrawing from the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation that was signed shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The treaty renews automatically every ten years, unless one side expresses an objection, and
just renewed in October this year. Poroshenko is proposing to break the treaty and withdraw from April 1, 2019 – immediately after the first round of the Ukrainian presidential elections ends. As none of the candidates have a clear lead, it is almost certain there will be two rounds to the election.
Ukraine’s parliament has greenlighted the discontinuing the friendship agreement with Russia on December 7. The motion was supported by 277 lawmakers on December 6, while 226 votes were necessary for its approval.