The vessels will be
handed over to Ukraine at Cape Tarkhankut after crossing the Crimean Bridge’s
arches.
ROSTOV-ON-DON,
November 17. /TASS/. Russia began moving Ukrainian Navy warships, which were
seized in the Kerch Strait on November 25, 2018, a source in the Southern
Federal District’s emergency services told TASS.
"The operation
on moving [the vessels] has started," the source said.
Earlier, Andrei
Yermak, aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, told the Novoye Vremya
daily that the process of returning the Ukrainian small armored boats Berdyansk
and Nikopol, as well as the Yany Kapu tugboat, detained last year by Russia in
the Kerch Strait, was at its final stage.
Crimea24 TV channel
reported that at the moment the warships were being transported by motorboats
of the Russian Federal Security Service’s branch in Crimea. The vessels will be
handed over to Ukraine at Cape Tarkhankut after crossing the Crimean Bridge’s
arches.
On November 25, 2018,
three Ukrainian warships, en route from Odessa to Mariupol, illegally crossed
Russia’s state border, entered Russia’s territorial waters in the Kerch Strait
and started performing dangerous maneuvers. Despite the repeated warnings and
demands to stop, the Ukrainian vessels continued their way, forcing Russia to
use weapons. All three Ukrainian ships were detained in the Black Sea, along
with 24 Ukrainian sailors.
On September 7,
Moscow and Kiev carried out a "35 for 35" exchange of detainees,
which included the 24 Ukrainian sailors detained in the Kerch Strait.
Source: ITAR-TASS
17-11-2019
