Russia starts prosecuting Ukrainians after sea clash
KIEV, 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 neighbors 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 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 — a measure that Kiev 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 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.
Ukrainian troops have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014, a conflict that has left over 10,000 dead, but fighting has eased since a truce in 2015. Martial law went into effect in several parts of Ukraine, including areas bordering territory held by the separatists.
In Sunday’s confrontation, Ukraine sent three small naval vessels from their Black Sea base in Odessa to Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov. The Russian coast guard blocked their way near the Kerch Strait and at one point rammed one of the vessels to keep it from passing through the narrow waterway. The ships had spent tense hours maneuvering until the Russians opened fire and seized the Ukrainian vessels and crew.
The Ukrainian navy said that six of its seamen were wounded, while Russia said that three Ukrainian crewmen suffered minor injuries. Ukraine said 24 of its sailors were taken into custody.
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.
Ukraine’s National Security Service demanded Russia stop using “psychological and physical pressure” on the men — an apparent reference to the interviews.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told the AP that he had asked the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross to arrange a visit with the captives and was awaiting a Russian response.