Source: Atlantic Council
By Ashish Kumar Sen
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia dramatically escalated on November 25 with Kyiv saying a Russian coast guard vessel rammed one of its navy tugboats in the Sea of Azov, while Moscow shut off access to the sea accusing Ukrainian vessels of passing through its territorial waters without permission.
Anders Åslund, a resident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said: “NATO and the United States should send in naval ships in the Sea of Azov to guarantee that it stays open to international shipping.”
Such action, he explained, “would be in full compliance with the UN Law of the Sea Convention of 1982 and the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits of 1936.”
The incident involving the Ukrainian vessel happened when two Ukrainian navy artillery boats and a tugboat were traveling from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait, a narrow passage between the Crimean Peninsula and Russia.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said: “Russia’s provocative actions in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov have crossed the line and become aggressive.”
“Russian ships have violated our freedom of maritime navigation and unlawfully used force against Ukrainian naval ships,” it added.
Read more at: http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/russia-ukraine-feud-heats-up-the-sea-of-azov