UNITED NATIONS, November 26. /TASS/. Russia considers the violation of its state border by Ukrainian ships as a flagrant provocation, First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky told the UN Security Council session on Monday.
"This is evidently a flagrant provocation," Polyansky said addressing UN SC member states that supported Ukraine. "However, you consciously condone this provocation. Your actions on supporting Ukraine have already led to the escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine," he added.
"The issue is that Ukrainians, while using the navigation regime in the Kerch Strait without any problems before, staged an obvious provocation, putting the lives of their sailors in danger," he noted. "Nobody tried to answer this question, it was not even mentioned once.This can be perceived as permission granted to Ukraine to continue such provocations, to fan tensions, to create a threat for everybody in this region," Polyansky said.
"It was mentioned here that Ukraine's sovereignty should be respected. Well, the sovereignty of the Russian Federation should be respected as well," he stressed.
"What concerns the incident itself, the investigation continues, and we will, of course, announce its results," Polyansky concluded.
On November 25 three warships of the Ukrainian Navy violated the rules of passage through Russia's territorial waters while en route from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea. The Russian side had to use weapons to compel the ships to stop. Three Ukrainian servicemen were lightly wounded. They received medical assistance. The ships were detained and escorted to the port of Kerch. A criminal case was initiated on border violation charges.
The Russian side described the incident as a provocation. Ukrainian authorities declared martial law. The EU and NATO called for de-escalation of the situation.