MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The Kiev regime is attempting to hinder progress in peace talks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis by attacking merchant vessels and unmanned boats in the Black Sea with drones, Yury Pilipson, Director of the Second European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with TASS.
He recalled that the Russian side "unequivocally qualified the attacks by Ukrainian drones and unmanned boats on merchant vessels in the Black Sea as piracy."
"The Kiev regime's forays in the Black Sea are clearly aimed at disrupting the painstaking work on mutually acceptable solutions to the Ukrainian crisis and hindering the progress of the negotiation process, the success of which is of particular interest to official Ankara," the diplomat stated in response to a question on the matter.
Pilipson also stressed that the Ukrainian armed forces' periodic attacks on energy and port infrastructure "not only damage the economic interests of Black Sea countries but also shake global energy markets."
Commenting on Turkey's resolute statement to Ukrainian security services regarding the unacceptability of attacks on vessels in the Black Sea, the diplomat noted that Ankara attaches great importance to ensuring the security of civilian shipping as such.
"The prospects for normalizing maritime transport in the Black Sea directly depend on Kiev's willingness to peacefully resolve existing conflicts, its rejection of the escalation of violence in the Black Sea, and its recognition of the need to create the desired atmosphere for dialogue in principle," he noted.
"This, as we know, is still difficult."
"We are grateful to our Turkish colleagues for the platform they previously provided for contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations. We have no doubt that our Turkish friends' attitude in this regard will remain constructive and well-intentioned," Pilipson concluded.