Seized Ukrainian boat crews prosecuted

Russian television airs footage decried by Kiev

KIEV, Ukraine — Russia on Tuesday began prosecuting the crews 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. 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 fueled 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.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry

Peskov warned the move could cause hostilities to flare up in eastern Ukraine.

“The introduction of martial law could potentially raise the threat of escalation of tensions in the region of conflict,” he told reporters.

Russian state television broadcast separate interviews with three of the seamen, who said the Russian coast guard repeatedly warned them that they were violating Russia’s territorial waters and urged them to leave. It was not clear if the men were talking under duress, but one was clearly reading from a script on camera.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told the AP that he has asked the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross to arrange a visit with the captives and is awaiting a Russian response. He said some of the seamen had been seriously injured in the clash.

“It’s not a political issue here, because we can have an argument about the legal status, but it’s about simply concentrating on protecting them and helping them,” Klimkin said.

When asked about the seamen shown on Russian TV, Klimkin said, “Even to put prisoners of war on television is already a crime.”

Ukrainian troops have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014.

The Associated Press A Ukrainian sailor, right, is escorted by an officer of the FSB Russian intelligence agency to a courtroom Tuesday in Simferopol, Crimea, where the crews of three Ukrainian ships seized by Russia were scheduled to have a court hearing.