The Moscow City Court has upheld a ruling on the extension of arrest for another four Ukrainian sailors, namely Serhiy Chuliba, Yuriy Bezyazychny, Yuriy Budzylo, and Bohdan Nebylytsia.
Ukrainian, EU and U.S. diplomats, as well as Russian activists came to support the Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.
The court will also hold hearings on Mykhailo Vlasiuk, Viacheslav Zinchenko, Denys Hrytsenko, Andriy Drach on February 13.
The first four who the Moscow court left in remand were Volodymyr Tereshchenko, Serhiy Popov, Bohdan Holovash, Andriy Shevchenko. The decision on them was taken on February 7. The decision on the second four sailors, namely Yevhen Semydotsky, Andriy Oprysko, Roman Mokriak, and Serhiy Tsybizov, was taken on February 12. They will remain in custody for the period determined in the January 2019 ruling.
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. Moscow's Lefortovo district court in the middle of January 2019, ruled to keep the Ukrainian sailors in remand until the end of April 2019.
