MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Ensuring the safety of international navigation in the Red Sea should be tackled head-on diplomatically, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with Yemeni Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak.

"We agree with our Yemeni partners that ensuring the safety of international navigation in the waters of the Red Sea should be a priority for all responsible members of the international community, and this task should be resolved by political and diplomatic means," Lavrov pointed out.

"We expressed our conviction that the increase in tension in the adjacent waters of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which arose due to the shelling of commercial vessels by the Yemeni Houthis, was largely a consequence of the unprecedented escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as the Yemeni crisis, which has dragged on for nine years," he continued. "We do not justify the shelling of commercial ships, but we also cannot justify the aggressive actions that the United States and Britain are taking against the territory of the Republic of Yemen under this pretext, without any international mandate in the form of a UN Security Council resolution," he added.

The situation in the Red Sea

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since last November, the Houthis have attacked dozens of civilian vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In response to Ansar Allah’s actions, the US authorities announced the creation of an international coalition and preparations for an operation codenamed Prosperity Guardian, expected to ensure freedom of navigation and protection of ships in the Red Sea. On January 12, US and British aircraft, ships and submarines carried out their initial attack on targets belonging to the Ansar Allah movement in a number of Yemeni cities, including Sana’a and Hodeidah. The strikes targeted the launch sites of rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as radar stations belonging to the Houthi rebels.