Russia puts sailors on trial
Ukrainian naval crews in clash
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia on Tuesday began prosecuting the crew of Ukrainian navy vessels captured over the weekend in a confrontation off Crimea, putting some of the seamen on camera, where they confessed to intruding into Russian waters.
Ukraine demanded that Russia stop using “psychological and physical pressure” on the sailors, as tensions between the two neighbours escalated. Ukraine’s top diplomat called the men “prisoners of war,” telling The Associated Press that displaying them on TV was a crime.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for Sunday’s clash in the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The incident has drawn strong criticism of Russia by the United States and its allies and fuelled fears of a full-blown conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s parliament on Monday adopted a motion by President Petro Poroshenko to impose martial law for 30 days in parts of the country — a measure that Kyiv avoided even when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 or sent clandestine troops and weapons to separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned the move could cause hostilities to flare up.
“The introduction of martial law could potentially raise the threat of escalation of tensions in the region of conflict,” he told reporters.
Ukrainian troops have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014.