Putin blocks off foreign warships

He shuts key sea channel amid gunboat skirmish

VLADIMIR Putin intensified his preparations for an apparent invasion of Ukraine yesterday by ordering the blockade of the strategically important Kerch Strait.

Russian warships moved into position to control the strait yesterday, cutting off sea access to Ukraine’s south-eastern coastline and eastern Crimea.

The Kremlin confirmed all foreign and Ukrainian military vessels will be forbidden to sail from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov for the next six months. Commercial vessels will not be affected.

The blockade was announced a day after President Joe Biden turned around two American destroyers that were bound for the Black Sea in response to a Russian military build-up on the Ukrainian border.

Only hours before the announcement, three Ukrainian artillery boats and five Russian

Federal Security Service ships clashed in the Sea of Azov, during which Ukrainian sailors reportedly threatened to open fire after the Russians performed ‘provocative manoeuvres’.

Last night the Ukrainian navy said: ‘Russia continues to violate international law. Russia made yet another attempt to hinder the lawful actions of a Ukrainian navy boat group on combat duty.’ Andrii Klymenko, Ukrainian editor of Black Sea News, said: ‘In response to the threats from the Russian vessels, our sailors had to warn of a readiness to use weapons.’

Although the clash ended without any shots being fired, Russia is thought to be seeking to provoke Ukraine into taking military action which it can then use to justify re-occupying eastern Ukraine and the Crimea in a repeat of its invasion in 2014.

The territory Russia gained as part of that offensive seven years ago included both banks of the Kerch Strait, giving the Kremlin the ability to control which vessels use it.

In response to the blockade, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said: ‘Such actions are another attempt, in violation of the norms and principles of international law, at usurping our sovereign rights as a littoral [coastal] state.

‘It is Ukraine that has the right to regulate navigation in these parts of the Black Sea.’

The move also prompted a Ukrainian government official to suggest that it could build its own nuclear arsenal if is not permitted to join Nato – the defence alliance which includes the UK and the US. Ukraine committed troops to Nato operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping its contributions would lead to membership. However, Nato wants to avoid a direct confrontation with Moscow.

Last night, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnik said: ‘Ukraine has no other choice – either we are part of an alliance such as Nato and are doing our part to make this Europe stronger, or we have the only option – to arm by ourselves, and maybe think about nuclear status again.

‘We must do everything possible to ensure that Putin will not attack us tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. If Ukraine had been a Nato member in 2014 it would never have come to… this terrible war in the east.

‘We are dealing with the largest troop movement in Russia since the Second World War.’

Ukraine was formerly a nuclear state. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it agreed to eliminate its weaponry in return for security guarantees from Britain, the US and Russia.

Last night, France and Germany called on Russia to pull back its troops.

‘Think about nuclear status’