Russian men face Ukraine travel ban

UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT has said Russian men between 16 and 60 have been barred from travelling to the country.

The move comes as the longsimmering conflict between the two nations escalated in the Black Sea on Sunday.

Russian border guards opened fire on and captured three Ukrainian vessels and their 24-member crew.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko tweeted that the restrictions on Russian travellers have been taken in order to prevent Russians from forming “private armies” fighting on Ukrainian soil.

On Monday, the Ukrainian parliament adopted the president’s motion to impose martial law in the country for 30 days in the wake of the naval stand-off near the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

The Ukrainian vessels had been trying to pass through the Kerch Strait on their way to the Sea of Azov.

The announcement follows Thursday’s decision by US president Donald Trump to scrap the much-anticipated meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Mr Trump said it was not appropriate for him to meet Mr Putin since Russia has not released the Ukrainian seamen.

A Russian government-appointed ombudswoman for Crimea told Russian news agencies that all the seamen have been transported from a centre in Crimea.

The three commanders have been taken to Moscow, the ombudswoman said.

A Crimea court earlier this week ruled to keep the Ukrainian seamen behind bars for two months pending the investigation.

There has been growing hostility between Ukraine and Russia since Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia has also supported separatists in Ukraine’s east, with clandestine dispatches of detention troops and weapons. Fighting there has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014, but has eased somewhat after a 2015 truce.

Information on how the ban will be enforced have not yet been published, but stricter checks are expected at the country’s border crossings.

The ban applies to all points of entry into Ukraine, with the main emphasis on the Ukrainian-Russian land border.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s intelligence agency is reported to be searching the home of the ather superior of Kiev’s biggest and oldest monastery, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A volunteer distributes breakfast to Indian farmers who had camped overnight to participate in a protest in New Delhi, India. Thousands of farmers are marching to parliament demanding higher prices for their produce and a government waiver on their farm loans.