REUTERS
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says Russia's plans to unilaterally restrict navigation along the Kerch Strait are internationally wrongful and violate Ukraine's sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction over its inland waters, territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, according to the Ukrainian-language service of Germany's Deutsche Welle (DW).
Russia's Transport Ministry earlier announced plans to limit shipping through the Kerch Strait for 23 days in August and September 2017, DW reported.
It plans to install abutments of bridge spans of Kerch Bridge that is being built near the Russian-occupied Crimea.
Ukraine's Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Lavrenyuk told DW that the sea gauge parameters set by the occupying authorities on their own could create an obstacle to the operation of the Ukrainian merchant seaports of Berdyansk and Mariupol at the Sea of Azov.
Read alsoNo one wants to build railway to Kerch bridge, deadlines may shift - media"After the bridge has been built, some vessels will be unable to pass through the Kerch Strait because of the excess draft of a vessel," Lavrenyuk said, adding that losses of the Ukrainian ports for the 23 days of the shipping restrictions will amount to UAH 500 million, or US$19.2 million, by autumn.
"In this regard, Ukraine has the right to demand compensation of losses from the Russian Federation for such actions," Ukraine's foreign ministry said, responding to a journalist's question about the measures the ministry would undertake in this respect.
Read alsoUkraine adds more Russian, Crimean transport enterprises to sanction list The ministry did not disclose whether relevant financial claims had already been filed. However, it said it continued gathering evidence of violations by Russia of international conventions, including those related to the Kerch Strait. "Russia's unilateral actions cause physical changes in the marine environment being part of Ukraine's marine zone," the foreign ministry explained.
The publication also notes that Ukraine in 2016 initiated a case against the Russian Federation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ukraine asked the arbitral tribunal to confirm its rights as a littoral state and oblige the Russian Federation to stop internationally wrongful actions in the respective maritime areas, provide appropriate guarantees of their non-repetition and reimburse Ukraine for any losses caused by Russia.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced immediately after the annexation of Crimea on March 19, 2014, that a bridge should be built across the Kerch Strait. Later, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order to appoint gas pipeline construction company Stroygazmontazh owned by oligarch Arkady Rotenberg as a general contractor for the construction of a bridge linking Russia to Crimea. The Russian government originally planned to build it before December 2018.