Nato calls for calm after boats seized in Russia-Ukraine clashes – By Jon Henley and Matthew Bodner (theguardian.com) / Nov 26 2018
Wider escalation feared as Kiev accuses Moscow of military aggression in Kerch strait
Nato has joined a chorus of western calls for Russia and Ukraine to show restraint as the UN security council prepares to meet amid a dangerous new crisis between the countries and fears of a wider military escalation.
Russia reopened the Kerch strait separating Crimea from the Russian mainland early on Monday after its FSB security service said border patrol boats had fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval ships a day earlier, wounding several crew members.
Kiev said the two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tug boat, heading to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov, were observing international maritime rules. Moscow said it had not been notified in advance of the flotilla’s passage and the boats ignored warnings to stop.
Nato said its ambassadors and Ukraine’s envoy would hold emergency talks in Brussels on Monday at the request of the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, after he had spoken to the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg had expressed Nato’s “full support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including its full navigational rights in its territorial waters under international law”, the military alliance said.
It called for “restraint and de-escalation” and demanded that Russia “ensure unhindered access to Ukrainian ports in the Azov sea in accordance with international law”. Kiev has accused Russia of military aggression over the incident and asked for the international community to punish Russia.
Senior officials from Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France are meeting in Berlin on Monday for previously scheduled talks on the broader situation in Ukraine and will seek a “collective solution” to the latest clash.
Russia-Ukraine relations have been severely strained since Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula and its support for a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine. In May Vladimir Putin opened a $3.69bn (£2.7bn) bridge over the Kerch strait that links the Russian mainland and the peninsula.
On Monday afternoon Ukrainian MPs are set to vote on a proposal by Poroshenko to impose martial law, four months before presidential elections that Poroshenko is expected to lose. If the vote passes, the elections could be postponed, prompting some observers to question whether Poroshenko was trying to exploit the incident.
Dozens of far-right protesters burnt vehicle tyres outside the Russian consulate in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Monday. The protest was organised by the National Corps party, which also called for a demonstration in front of Poroshenko’s office in Kiev. The far-right group C14 published photos on Facebook of a car with Russian diplomatic plates on fire in front of the Russian embassy in Kiev.
Germany’s foreign minister said the latest clash between the countries was worrying.
“A Russian blockade of the passage into the Sea of Azov is not acceptable,” Heiko Maas said on Twitter. “What is important is that this blockade is lifted. We call on both sides to de-escalate.”
Maas’s deputy, Michael Roth, described the standoff as “very dangerous” and urged both sides to take steps to avoid what could ultimately be “terrible consequences”.
The bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula at the Kerch strait. Photograph: Pavel Rebrov/Reuters
The EU said in a statement it expected Russia to restore freedom of passage via the Kerch strait and urged both sides to “act with the utmost restraint to de-escalate the situation”, while the Danish foreign minister, Anders Samuelsen, said Copenhagen gave its full support to Ukraine.
“The development is very disturbing and can escalate,” Samuelsen said.
Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said her country condemned what she called Russian aggression and demanded Moscow release the flotilla.
“Canada is unwavering in its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Freeland said on Twitter.
The Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko (C) leads a security meeting in Kiev on Sunday. Photograph: EPA
There was no immediate reaction from the White House or US state department.
Turkey stressed that as a country sharing a Black Sea coast “passage through the Kerch strait should not be blocked”, and called for an avoidance of any actions likely to endanger stability and peace in the region.
Observers said the incident could lead to a fresh round of sanctions by the US and Europe against Moscow.
The research firm Eurasia Group said: “Western governments will side with Ukraine against Russia over the incident … making new sanctions against Russia likely.”
