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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 27 November 2018

After dispute with Russia, Ukraine leader seeks martial law

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA which separates the Black
VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Sea from the Sea of Azov,
Associated Press injuring six Ukrainian sea-
MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine's men and eventually seizing
president on Monday the vessels and their crews.
urged parliament to im- It was the first open military
pose martial law in the confrontation between the
country to fight "growing two neighbors since the an-
aggression from Russia," af- nexation of Crimea.
ter a weekend naval con- Ukraine said its vessels were
frontation off the disputed heading to the Sea of Azov
Crimean Peninsula in which in line with international
Russia fired on and seized maritime rules, while Rus-
three Ukrainian vessels sia charged that they had
amid renewed tensions be- failed to obtain permission
tween the neighbors. to pass through the narrow
Western leaders and dip- strait that is spanned by
lomats urged both sides to a 19-kilometer (11.8-mile)
de-escalate the conflict, bridge that Russia complet-
and the U.S. blamed Russia ed this year.
for what it called "unlawful While a 2003 treaty desig-
conduct" over Sunday's in- nates the Kerch Strait and
cident in the Black Sea. Sea of Azov as shared ter-
Russia and Ukraine blamed ritorial waters, Russia has
each other in the dispute sought to assert greater
that further ratcheted up Chairman of the Ukrainian General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, bottom, speaks during a parliament control over the passage
tensions ever since Moscow session in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Nov. 26, 2018. Associated Press since the annexation.
annexed Crimea in 2014 Ukrainian Foreign Minister
and threw its weight be- sion from Russia." al, Poroshenko sought to al- election. Pavlo Klimkin tweeted that
hind separatists in eastern The proposed measures in- lay those fears by releasing Poroshenko's proposal also the dispute was not an ac-
Ukraine with clandestine cluded a partial mobiliza- a statement that revised his outraged far-right groups cident and that Russia had
support, including troops tion and strengthening the original proposal from a 60- in Ukraine that have advo- engaged in "deliberately
and weapons. country's air defense. It also day period of martial law to cated severing diplomatic planned hostilities," while
Ukrainian President Petro contained vaguely worded just 30 days, in order to "do ties with Russia. Hundreds Russian Foreign Minister Ser-
Poroshenko asked lawmak- steps such as "strengthen- away with the pretexts for of protesters from the Na- gey Lavrov blamed Kiev
ers in Kiev to institute martial ing" anti-terrorism measures political speculation." tional Corps party waved for what he described as a
law, something the country and "information security." Oksana Syroid, a deputy flares in the snowy streets "provocation," adding that
has not done even during The proposal, which could speaker of parliament, not- of Kiev outside parliament "Ukraine had undoubtedly
the worst of the fighting in curtail certain rights and ed that martial law was not and accused the president hoped to get additional
the east that killed about freedoms, was met with introduced in 2014 or 2015 of using martial law to his benefits from the situation,
10,000 people. suspicion from Poroshen- despite large-scale fighting own ends. expecting the U.S. and Eu-
Poroshenko said martial law ko's critics who wondered in the east. But Poroshenko insisted rope to blindly take the
was necessary because of why Sunday's incident mer- A state of emergency that it was necessary be- provocateurs' side."
intelligence about "a highly ited a state of emergency. "would present a wonderful cause what happened in Klimkin told reporters in Kiev
serious threat of a ground Poroshenko's approval chance to manipulate the the Kerch Strait between that the government is in
operation against Ukraine." ratings have been plung- presidential elections," she Crimea and the Russian talks with the Red Cross to
He did not elaborate. ing, and martial law could said. mainland "was no acci- make sure the captive sea-
"Martial law doesn't mean mean that a presiden- NATO Secretary-General dent," adding that "this was men are treated as prison-
declaring a war," he said. tial election scheduled Jens Stoltenberg said Po- not the culmination of it ers of war. Kremlin spokes-
"It is introduced with the for March might be post- roshenko assured him that yet." man Dmitry Peskov did not
sole purpose of boosting poned. should martial law be intro- Russian coast guard ships say whether the Kremlin
Ukraine's defense in the Just before the parliament duced, it would not have fired on the Ukrainian navy considers them prisoners of
light of a growing aggres- was to vote on the propos- a negative impact on the vessels near the strait, war.q