Andrij Melnyk
Ukraine's top diplomat in Germany urged Berlin and other Western states to punish Russia by extending sanctions, banning energy imports and putting the NordStream 2 gas pipeline on hold after Moscow seized three Ukrainian ships near Crimea.
The ambassador even raised the possibility of sending German marines to the region.
Several senior European politicians have raised the possibility of new sanctions against Russia after the incident on Sunday, which the West fears could ignite a wider conflict near Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
"Germany must take a clear line ... and put (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in his place," ambassador Andrij Melnyk told German radio on Wednesday. "Everything is at stake."
"The club of sanctions should be wielded quickly .... There should be a complete ban on gas and oil imports from Russia, NordStream 2 must be put on ice," he said, adding only such measures could stop Putin's "brutal, hoooligan-like" behaviour.
Russia said on Wednesday it would send more of its advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Crimea and a Reuters reporter saw a Russian warship deploying nearby as tensions with Ukraine rose over Moscow's seizure of Ukrainian navy ships.Russia has steadily poured new military hardware into Crimea since it annexed it from Ukraine in 2014, turning it into what Kremlin-backed media have called a fortress.Moscow's announcement about new missiles follows its seizure of three Ukrainian naval vessels and their crews on Sunday over what it said was their illegal entry into Russian waters, something Ukraine denies.Kiev introduced martial law in parts of the country after the incident, saying it feared a possible Russian invasion.In phone calls, Erdoğan urges Putin, Poroshenko to reach diplomatic solutionThe episode risks derailing a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 in Argentina later this week. Trump said on Tuesday that he might cancel the meeting due to the incident, but the Kremlin said on Wednesday it thought it was still on.Vadim Astafyev, a spokesman for Russia's southern military district, was cited by Russian news agencies on Wednesday as saying that a new battalion of S-400 missiles would be delivered to Crimea soon and become operational by the end of the year.The deployment is likely to have been long-planned, but the timing of the announcement appeared designed to send a message to Ukraine and the West that Russia is serious about defending what it regards as its own territory and waters.Crimea already hosts three battalions of the anti-aircraft missile systems which have a range of up to 400 km (250 miles) allowing Russia to control large swaths of the skies above the Black Sea.Ukraine says martial law not affecting Azov Sea grain exports but outlook unclearMINESWEEPERThe new deployment would allow it to increase its air defence coverage area.The United States has previously said that Russia's deployment of the missile systems to Crimea is "not good".Separately, a Reuters correspondent in Crimea on Wednesday observed a Russian navy minesweeper ship, the Vice-Admiral Zakharin, heading for the Sea of Azov, which is used by both Ukraine and Russia and is an area of growing tensions.Citing sources in Ukraine's ruling circles, Russia's Izvestia newspaper reported that Kiev had been trying to persuade Washington - so far unsuccessfully - to open a military base in Ukraine.'Put Putin in his place', Ukrainian ambassador tells GermanyReuters could not independently confirm the report.Later on Wednesday a Crimean court is due to order the detention of nine of the 24 captured Ukrainian sailors - including senior Ukrainian naval officers and at least one member of Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency.A court in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Tuesday ordered the other 15 Ukrainian sailors to be detained for two months pending a possible trial.All of the sailors face jail terms of up to six years if found guilty of what Moscow says was a plot to illegally cross the Russian border by trying to pass through the Russian-controlled Kerch Strait on Sunday without advance notice and ignoring calls to stop.Ukraine says its ships did nothing wrong and have every right to use the strait, the only gateway to the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea, without Russian permission.
Russia to deploy new missiles to Crimea as Ukraine tensions rise
Ukraine is already nervous about the prospect of the NordStream 2 pipeline which increases Europe's reliance on Russian gas, fearing it will lose out on transit revenues.
"In military terms, what can you do? Sending German marines to the coast of Crimea ... could help stop an escalation. If you are there, Russians have fewer possibilities to act so brutally," he said.
"If you don't do anything, you can barely hope that this will come to an end," said Melnyk.
So far, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for de-escalation and dialogue.
The foreign minister of Austria, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, has said any extension of sanctions imposed on Russia over its actions in Ukraine would depend on further information about the incident and how the two sides behave.
Russia opened fire on the Ukrainian boats, then seized them and their crews on Sunday. Moscow and Kiev have tried to pin blame on each other.
Twelve of 24 Ukrainian sailors captured during Sunday’s confrontation with Russia in a strait next to Crimea have been sentenced to two months in custody by a Russian court.The pre-trial restrictions for the 12 others will be defined on Wednesday, said the court in Simferopol, the capital of Russian-controlled Crimea, on Tuesday.Meanwhile, the Russia Federal Security Service (FSB) released documents allegedly taken from the seized Ukrainian vessels which contain instructions about violating Russian borders.The FSB also released video of the interrogation of three Ukrainian servicemen who say they intentionally violated the Russian border and consciously ignored Russian border guards’ demands to stop.Earlier today Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov urged Ukraine's Western backers to send a "strong signal" to Kiev to stop any "provocations" that might lead to incidents similar to Sunday’s confrontation.Lavrov decried how -- in Moscow’s eyes -- Ukraine "intentionally provoked" Russia on Sunday, when three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea tried to enter the Kerch Strait to reach the Sea of Azov.The incident ended up with three Ukrainian servicemen wounded and the vessels seized by the Russian military.Russia and Ukraine have been at loggerheads since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea after a controversial referendum.Turkey, as well as the UN General Assembly, viewed the annexation as illegal.Ukraine has also blamed Russia for separatist violence in eastern Ukraine, near the border with Russia.
Russian court jails 12 Ukrainian sailors for 2 months