MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Ban on transit of Russian trucks via Ukrainian territory contradicts the norms of international law, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
Answering a TASS question on whether the Kremlin is aware of Kiev’s official decision to ban transit of Russian trucks via Ukrainian territory, Peskov said: "No, I do not know about that yet and I don’t know what is behind it."
"In any case, this absolutely contradicts the norms of international law, principles of international organization that oversees international haulage," he added. "It is absolutely outrageous, so to say," the spokesman noted.
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"It is absolutely outrageous when our carriers face such mayhem in connivance with Ukrainian authorities," Peskov said.
He added that Russia’s Transport Ministry continues to follow the situation. "It is naturally an extremely important question. You know about forced counter-measures that the Transport Ministry announced. We are closely following the situation and proceed from the fact that the Transport Ministry is undertaking energetic measures to unblock this situation. It is the first thing. Secondly, adequate response measures will be introduced in case of unfavorable developments," the Kremlin spokesman concluded.
The Ukrainian government’s press service said earlier today that the decision was made to ban transit of Russian trucks via Ukrainian territory. "Ukraine temporarily suspends transit of trucks registered in Russia via Ukrainian territory. The relevant protocol decision was made at the government session in the morning on Monday, February 15," the press service said.
More than 100 Russian trucks are currently blocked in different parts of Ukraine. Roads wer blocked for them in most part of western Ukraine. According to "112" Ukrainian TV channel, nine regions joined the action, including Volyn, Rivne, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Sumy and Chernivtsi. In response to Ukraine’s actions, Russia suspended movement of Ukrainian trucks via Russian territory on February 14. "As a response measure, Russia suspended movement of trucks registered in Ukraine on its territory," the transport ministry said in a statement.