Russia has slapped charges against 24 Ukrainian citizens detained in the Kerch Strait in late November. Later, they were taken to Moscow.
“Charges were brought right after their arrest. All of them are charged with violating the Russian border under Article 322.3 of the Russian Criminal Code I haven’t met with my client [Denis Gritsenko] yet, I don’t know whether any documents have been sent to Moscow and who is conducting the investigation,” news agency TASS quotes defense lawyer Nikolai Polozov.
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has recently said that the whole world demands Russia immediately release the arrestees.
“Unfortunately, Putin has not responded so far to my request for a direct telephone conversation in any format – bilaterally, in the Normandy format, or with the participation of American partners <…>They [Ukrainian sailors] are not criminals, as Putin wants to show. They are prisoners of war and under the jurisdiction of the Geneva Convention,” news agency Ukrinform quotes the Ukrainian leader.
According to him, Russia fired on and captured Ukrainian ships and sailors in the neutral waters of the Black Sea. It is the new sanctions that may make Putin sit down to talk, Petro Poroshenko believes.
On November 25, three Ukrainian ships were captured by the Russian special forces in the Kerch Strait. According to Ukrainian media, Russia took prisoner 24 people, 6 sailors were injured. In response, 30-day martial law has been introduced in 10 regions of Ukraine — those bordering Russia, Transnistria and the Black Sea coast, as well as in Chernihiv region bordering Belarus. In turn, Putin called the incident ‘provocation staged by Poroshenko ahead of the presidential election in Ukraine’.
The three Ukrainian vessels seized by Russian military remain in Crimea.
