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Russia’s FSB asks to prolong arrest of Ukrainian sailors detained in Kerch Strait

Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court will consider the motion to this effect on January 15

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has asked to extend the arrest of the Ukrainian sailors detained in the Kerch Strait, one of the sailors’ Defense Attorney, Sergei Badamshin, informed TASS.

"The investigators have asked the court to extend the sailors’ arrest. Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court will consider the motion to this effect on January 15," he said.

On November 25, three Ukrainian warships violated the rules of passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. The intruding Ukrainian vessels illegally crossed the Russian state border, trespassed into Russian territorial waters and conducted dangerous maneuvers. In defiance of repeated warnings and demands to halt, the Ukrainian ships carried on violating the law, which drove the Russian forces to use gunfire in order to compel them to stop. As a result, all three vessels were detained. The twenty-four Ukrainian nationals who were detained after the incident have been arrested till January 25. They face charges of illegal border crossing (Part 3, Section 322 of the Russian Criminal Code), which carry a punishment of up to six year in prison.

Moscow branded the incident as a provocation.