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Moscow's Lefortovo district court has extended the detention term for all 24 captive Ukrainian sailors until April 24.

The decision on the last four Ukrainian sailors was announced at court hearings on Wednesday, January 16, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.

The detention term was extended to Volodymyr Lisoviy, Viktor Bespalchenko, Volodymyr Varimez and Vladyslav Kostyshyn.

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The lawyers plan to appeal against the court rulings.

Read alsoWashington urges Moscow not to use captured Ukrainian sailors as "political pawns"

As UNIAN reported earlier, Moscow's Lefortovo district court on January 15, 2019, decided to keep 20 Ukrainian sailors in remand until April 24. The judges were considering cases of the Ukrainian sailors spilt in fours in each courtroom.

The first four were Serhiy Tsybizov, Andriy Oprysko, Yevhen Semydotsky, Roman Mokriak; the second four were Andriy Shevchenko, Bohdan Holovash, Serhiy Popov, Volodymyr Tereshchenko; the third four were Mykhailo Vlasiuk, Denys Hrytsenko, Andriy Drach, Viacheslav Zinchenko.

The fourth group included Bohdan Nebylytsia, Yuriy Budzylo, Serhiy Chuliba, Yuriy Bezyazychny, and the fifth group included Andriy Eyder, Oleh Melnychuk, Vasyl Soroka, Andriy Artemenko.

UNIAN memo. On the morning of November 25, 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.