Ukrainian Navy press service
The vessel was forced to deviate from the initial course amid storm.
The Ukrainian Navy has reported that the MELITA bulk carrier, flying the Russian flag, entered Ukraine's territorial waters on Wednesday, June 5.
"Owing to the storm that raged west of the Tarkhankut Peninsula [temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea], Russian-flagged bulk carrier MELITA (IMO 8230479, MMSI: 273395390), following the course from the port of Astrakhan to the port of Constanta, was forced to deviate from the recommended route and cross five miles into the territorial waters of Ukraine," the Ukrainian Navy's press service wrote on Facebook on June 5.
The vessel was promptly spotted abreast of the Tendra Spit and its crew were questioned according to the protocol.
Given the circumstances, and in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the vessel was allowed to proceed toward its destination on the safe route without delay and without any action aimed at seizing and inspecting the vessel or apprehending the crew.
Read alsoITLOS obliges Russia to release 24 Ukrainian sailors
UNIAN memo. On the morning of November 25, 2018, Russia blocked the passage to the Kerch Strait for the Ukrainian tugboat "Yany Kapu" and two armored naval boats "Berdyansk" and "Nikopol," which were on a scheduled re-deployment from the Black Sea port of Odesa to the Azov Sea port of Mariupol. The Ukraine Navy Command noted that the Russian side had been informed of the plans to re-deploy the vessels in advance in accordance with international standards to ensure the safety of navigation. The Russian coast guard ship "Don" rammed the Ukrainian tugboat, damaging the Ukrainian vessel. As the Ukrainian boats were heading back in the Odesa direction after being rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them.
All 24 crew members on board were captured and later remanded in custody for two months, being charged with "illegal border crossing" (the sailors are facing up to six years in prison). Three crewmen were wounded in the attack. Russian-controlled "courts" in occupied Crimea ruled that all 24 detainees should be remanded in custody, after which they were transferred to the Moscow-based Lefortovo and Matrosskaya Tishina detention centers. Moscow's Lefortovo district court in the middle of January 2019 decided to keep the Ukrainian sailors in remand until the end of April 2019.
In April, their detention was extended until the end of August 2019.
On May 25, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea made public its decision obliging Russia to release three Ukrainian vessels and 24 Ukrainian sailors captured near the Kerch Strait and allow them to return to Ukraine. However, the Tribunal failed to satisfy Ukraine's motion to oblige the Russian Federation to stop criminal prosecution of captured Ukrainians.
According to the ITLOS document, Russia must inform the Tribunal no later than June 25 on the execution of the order to release Ukrainian sailors and vessels.