Captives face show trial
A Moscow show trial is set for for Ukrainian sailors as tensions escalate over the disputed Crimea, Alec Luhn writes from the Kerch Strait.
The transfer of two dozen captured Ukrainian sailors from Crimea to Moscow has set the stage for the next phase of the Russia-Ukraine standoff, a high-profile show trial with inescapable geopolitical undertones.
Three Ukranian navy ships were fired upon and seized last Sunday as they sailed toward the Kerch Strait -between Crimea and Russia, ratcheting up the crisis that began when Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014.
Claiming that Russia was gathering an invasion force on its borders, near areas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, Ukraine declared martial law in 10 regions and on Friday banned Russian men aged 16 to 60 from entering the country.
The 24 sailors were moved to pre-trial detention in the Russian capital the same day, hours after Donald Trump cancelled his meeting with Vladimir Putin, ostensibly over their plight.
The sailors face up to six years in prison on charges of violating Russia’s borders, but since two of the men are members of Ukraine’s security service, their lawyers fear espionage charges could be levelled against them.
‘‘There’s no reason to hope for a fair trial,’’ Mammet Mambetov, one of several Crimean Tatar defence lawyers in the case, said.
Last Monday’s escalation in the protracted conflict came as the Ukrainian navy vessels attempted to pass under Russia’s new Crimea Bridge that links mainland Russia with the annexed peninsula.
When The Sunday Telegraph visited the shallow, narrow strait this week, more than 60 large ships were waiting south of the strait, with traffic suspended because of high winds.
Since the bridge was opened by Putin in May, ships must now also pass through the 226m long and 35m tall arch of the bridge, helping Moscow tighten its control of a key shipping lane and the economic lifeline to eastern Ukraine.
Vessels typically wait to cross in caravans that alternate coming from the north and the south. Russian regulations say each ship should notify Kerch port 72 hours before it arrives and wait for a local pilot to come on board to guide it through, a port safety inspector said.
Border guard ships run by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) have been reportedly increasing their random checks, piling further pressure on Kerch shipping.
The Ukrainian navy has claimed its ships contacted the Kerch port the same day they intended to pass. But even if the sailors fell afoul of port regulations, the charges against them appear to be dubious given that Ukraine and Russia agreed to share the Azov Sea in a 2004 treaty.
In reality, tensions have long been building. Ukrainian border forces detained the Crimearegistered fishing boat Nord in the Azov Sea in March, after which Russian border guards seized a Ukrainian fishing vessel.
Then in September, Russian fighter jets and 10 ships accompanied two Ukrainian military vessels as they made a tense passage of the Kerch Strait with a Russian pilot on board, bound for Berdyansk, where Ukraine has announced plans to create a naval base.
The thought of Nato ships attempting to visit a new Ukrainian base in the Azov Sea, as Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, has suggested, is the stuff of nightmares for the Kremlin.
Calls by Ukrainian nationalists to blow up the Crimean Bridge have also been reported widely in the Russian media.
‘‘We are vigilant because it’s a unique bridge,’’ the Kerch safety -inspector told The Telegraph when asked if authorities were now checking vessels harder.
‘‘How can we let them destroy such a gem?’’
But Kiev’s transport minister argued this week that the checks and long wait times have amounted to an economic ‘‘blockade’’ against ports in the Azov Sea to ‘‘drive Ukraine out of our own territory’’.
He said Russian authorities were stopping 35 ships coming to or leaving Mariupol and Berdyansk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has estimated the financial losses due to shipping limitations at US$20-40 million annually.
However, few experts see the Kerch incident as a step toward the ‘‘full-scale war with Russia’’ that Poroshenko has been warning about.
‘‘This is not a prelude to an armoured thrust toward Mariupol, this is about Russia asserting that Crimea is ours,’’ Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russia’s -security services, said. ‘‘If Crimea is ours, then the corollary is that Azov is ours.’’
Angela Merkel urged Moscow to let Ukrainian vessels enter the Sea of Azov yesterday as Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia agreed to talks over the standoff in the Kerch Strait after meeting Mr Putin at the G20.
‘‘All escalations must be avoided,’’ Merkel said.
– Telegraph Group