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Nine more Ukrainian sailors captured during Sunday’s confrontation with Russia in a strait next to Crimea have been sent to jail for two months by a Russian court.
A total of 24 Ukrainian servicemen, including two security service agents, were arrested on Sunday, when three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea tried to enter the Kerch Strait to reach the Sea of Azov.
Yesterday, 12 of them were sentenced to months in custody.
Today, nine more were jailed, while a pre-trial restrictions for three remaining sailors are not defined as they had been injured during the clash, hospitalized and could not be produced before the court.
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 Kremlin for separatist violence in eastern Ukraine, near the border with Russia.
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 to deploy new S-400 missiles on CrimeaUkraine 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. Russian court jails 12 Ukrainian sailors for 2 months
'Put Putin in his place', Ukrainian ambassador tells Germany
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