Photo from UNIAN
Such inspections by Russian coast guards are illegal, the deputy minister claims.
Ukraine has been collecting evidence, documenting each case of Russia's illegal inspection of vessels in the Sea of Azov, to further use it in international courts, according to Deputy Minister for temporarily occupied territories, George Tuka.
“As to how the evidence base is collected: everything, evry case is being documented; moreover, the testimonies are being collected of both shipowners and the captains of the ships detained by the Russian Federation. All this material is being accumulated to become the basis for the subsequent claim [against Russia] by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with international judicial bodies," he told Hromadske.
Tuka stressed that detentions of Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov are illegal because, according to international maritime law, civilian ships can be stopped in four cases: slave trade, piracy, unauthorized broadcasting, and flag change.
“There are no legal grounds for Russia to act this way a priori,” he stressed.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia demonstrates readiness to undermine regional stability in the Sea of Azov, Russia demonstrates readiness to undermine regional stability in the Sea of Azov, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said in remarks at a UN Security Council briefing in New York City on October 30, 2018, on the situation in Ukraine.
At the same briefing, UN Under‑Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, called on the Russian Federation and Ukraine to avoid any risk of escalation, provocation or miscalculation in regard to increased tensions in the Sea of Azov.