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Russian border agents nab ‘wayfarer’ trying to cross Kerch Strait on plastic bottle raft

Russian border guards have detained a resident of Saratov who was trying to cross the Kerch Strait to get to Crimea using a handmade raft cobbled together from timber and plastic bottles

SIMFEROPOL, July 13. /TASS/. Russian border guards have detained a resident of Saratov, a city in the Volga region, who was trying to cross the Kerch Strait to get to Crimea using a handmade raft cobbled together from timber and plastic bottles, the press service of the Crimean border department of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on Thursday.

"While patrolling the Kerch Strait, the crew of a border patrol motorboat spotted an unidentified individual a mile away from the coast line who was proceeding from Port Kavkaz using a raft made of improvised materials," the press service said.

After arriving on shore, the man said that he had decided to travel across the country back in 2012 and even submitted an application to the local resident registration office in Saratov to dedicate himself to tourism.

The 53-year-old man trekked from the Saratov Region to Crimea through Russia’s southern Stavropol and Kuban regions. Having arrived at Port Kavkaz, the traveler decided to reach the opposite shore of the Kerch Strait by making a raft of timber and plastic junk bottles.

For violating border procedures and established rules along Russia’s territorial sea, the individual was issued a warning under the section of the Russian Administrative Offenses Code "Violation of the border regime on the territorial sea and on Russia’s inland waters."

Border guards also warned residents and guests of the peninsula that entering the sea using watercraft not made for this purpose can not only lead to administrative liability but also imperil the lives and well-being of adventure-seekers.