MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has called on Ukraine’s authorities not to incite its military to violate international rules, commenting on the Ukrainian vessels’ intrusion into Russia’s territorial waters.
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"I would like to call on the Ukrainian authorities not to incite their servicemen to violate international rules and not to force them into fulfilling the orders, which may harm their health and life," Moskalkova told TASS.
On November 25, three Ukrainian warships illegally crossed Russia’s state border in the Black Sea and entered Russia’s territorial waters performing dangerous maneuvers. The ships did not respond to the demands of the Russian Federal Security Service border directorate and the Black Sea Fleet to stop and continued their way.
All three Ukrainian Navy vessels, which had violated the Russian state border, were detained in the Black Sea, with weapons used to force them to stop. Three Ukrainian servicemen were slightly wounded and received medical assistance, the FSB said, adding that there was no threat to their lives. A criminal case has been launched over violation of Russia’s state border.
Russia’s human rights commissioner said three wounded Ukrainian sailors had been sent to a hospital in Kerch and were being provided with medical assistance. Proceedings against the others have been launched.
Moskalkova also voiced hope that the mounting tensions between Ukraine and Russia would not be an obstacle for bringing back home captain of Russia’s Nord fishing vessel Vladimir Gorbenko, who was detained by Ukraine’s authorities this March.
"We have been working on Vladimir Gorbenko’s return to his family and consider that the issue of the detained [Russian and Ukrainian] captains is not related to this entire political situation," she noted.
In March 2018, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service detained the Nord fishing vessel, whose crew included ten Russian nationals, in the Sea of Azov. Its captain, Vladimir Gorbenko, was charged with "violating the entry and exit rules to Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territory" and illegal fishing. Two sailors managed to leave the country in a short term, while the others had been held by Kiev for seven months. On October 30, they were swapped for Ukrainian sailors. Gorbenko was forced to stay in Ukraine.
On May 4, Russia detained Ukraine’s YaMK-0041 vessel in the Black Sea off the western coast of Crimea over illegal fishing. There were five crew members onboard, all of them Ukrainian nationals. A criminal case was opened against the vessel’s captain Viktor Novitsky, while the vessel itself was arrested.