Nato calls emergency meeting with Ukrainian officials on sea clash
Nato was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting with Ukrainian officials at alliance headquarters in Brussels yesterday over the naval standoff with Russia off the coast of Crimea. Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships on Sunday, accusing them of illegally entering its waters in the Sea of Azov, in a dramatic spike in tensions that raises fears of a wider escalation. Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg held phone talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and officials from the two sides will meet later in the day. “The Secretary General expressed Nato’s full support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including its full navigational rights in its territorial waters under international law,” Nato said of Stoltenberg’s call. Kiev demanded the return of its ships and sailors, denouncing “another act of armed aggression” by Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The Ukrainian military has been put on high alert and the country’s parliament is to vote on a request by Poroshenko to impose martial law for 60 days.