KIEV, July 7. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine intends to exclude sea harbors of Crimea from international navigation, the press service of Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry reported on Monday.
The ministry said the relevant order “On closing sea harbors” dated June 16 and registered in the Justice Ministry June 24 would come into effect after its official publication.
The order will concern harbors of Yevpatoria, Kerch, Sevastopol, Feodosia and Yalta.
In May, Ukraine reported to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that it was preparing a ruling on closure of Crimean harbors.
{article_slideshow:721411:'Russia's Black Sea Fleet':'right':'50'}“Occupied territory”
April 28, the parliament-appointed interim President of Ukraine and Verkhovna Rada Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov signed a bill “On providing rights and freedoms of citizens and on the legal status of the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine”. Under this law, Crimea and Sevastopol were declared occupied territories.
According to the law, the national waters and the territorial sea of Ukraine, the underwater space within the territorial sea, as well as the air space around them are also deemed as such territories. In total, Kiev estimated the loss of Crimea at $100 billion.
International organizations, in particular, the IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) took the side of Kiev. Since March 12, 2014, the Ukrainian authorities closed the airdromes of Simferopol, Sevastopol and the lower airspace over Crimea insisting that they remained under the responsibility of Ukrainian air traffic controllers, who were not able to perform their duties after Crimea’s accession to Russia.