Russia attacks Ukrainian Navy ships
The Ukrainian Navy said Russian forces opened fire on a group of its ships in the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean peninsula late on November 25, striking two warships and wounding two crew members before seizing the vessels along with a Ukrainian Navy tugboat. The Ukrainian Navy announced the incident on a day of heightened tension after Russia reportedly blocked the three Ukrainian Navy ships from passing from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait. Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova late on November 25 accused Ukrainian authorities of using “gangster tactics” in the Kerch Strait – first a provocation, then pressure and finally accusations of aggression. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which oversees the country’s border-guard service, said its forces fired weapons at the Ukrainian Navy ships to get them to stop after they had illegally entered Russia’s territorial waters. But the Ukrainian Navy says its vessels – including two small-sized artillery boats – were attacked by Russian coast-guard ships as they were leaving the 12-mile zone of the Kerch Strait and moving back into the Black Sea. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said late on November 25 that “Russian special forces have taken over some ships.” Mr. Poroshenko called a meeting of his military cabinet to evaluate and determine Ukraine’s next steps. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry said it considered Russia’s “aggressive actions” to be a violation of international law that would be met with “an international and diplomatic legal response.” Earlier the same day, Kyiv said a Russian coast-guard vessel rammed the Ukrainian Navy tugboat in the same area as three Ukrainian ships approached the Kerch Strait in an attempt to reach the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. Mariupol is the closest Ukrainian government-controlled city to Donetsk and Luhansk, the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists. The Ukrainian Navy said the collision happened because “the invaders’ dispatcher service refuses to ensure the right to freedom of navigation, guaranteed by international agreements.” The Navy also accused Russia of demonstrating an “aggressive nature and complete disregard for the norms of international law.” It added, “The ships of the Ukrainian Navy continue to perform tasks in compliance with all norms of international law. All illegal actions are recorded by the crews of the ships and the command of Ukraine’s Navy and will be handed over to the respective international bodies.” After that incident, Russian authorities closed passage by civilian ships through the Kerch Strait. Russian authorities cited a local port authority to justify the closure on grounds of heightened security concerns. In Brussels, the European Union late on November 25 called upon Russia “to restore freedom of passage”’ in the Kerch Strait. Meanwhile, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the alliance was “closely monitoring developments” in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and was in contact with the Ukrainian authorities. “We call for restraint and de-escalation,” she said. “NATO fully supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity, including its navigational rights in its territorial waters,” Ms. Lungescu said. “We call on Russia to ensure unhindered access to Ukrainian ports in the Azov Sea, in accordance with international law.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Christopher Miller in Kyiv, RFE/RL correspondent Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels, AFP, AP, Reuters, UNIAN and Interfax.)
Verkhovna Rada backs martial law
The Ukrainian Parliament voted on November 26 to impose martial law for 30 days after Russian forces fired on Ukrainian ships and seized 23 sailors in the Black Sea off the coast of the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula. After heated debates, lawmakers backed President Petro Poroshenko’s request to bring in martial law that would last 30 days starting from November 28. The measures will include a partial mobilization, a strengthening of Ukraine’s air defenses, and several with broad wording – such as unspecified steps “to strengthen the counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and countersabotage regime and information security.” Martial law will be introduced in areas of the country most vulnerable to “aggression from Russia.” In a Parliament that is composed of 450 deputies, 276 lawmakers voted in favor of the plan, with 30 voting against. The decision marks the first time Kyiv has taken such a step since Russia seized Crimea in March 2014, following the downfall of Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, and Russian-backed militants fighting Kyiv’s forces in a war that erupted in eastern Ukraine the following month. (RFE/RL)
Trump says he may cancel Putin meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump says he is considering canceling his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Argentina this week over Russia’s detention of Ukrainian sailors. His comments in an interview with The Washington Post published late on November 27 came as the Ukrainian president warned of a “threat of full-scale war” with Russia while European leaders said they were considering a new round of sanctions against Russia because of its capture of three Ukrainian naval ships and their crews following a confrontation at sea off Crimea on November 25. Mr. Trump told The Post he was awaiting a “full report” from his national security team about the incident before going through with a Putin meeting that had been expected to address a range of issues from arms control to the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. “That will be very determinative,” Mr. Trump told The Post. “Maybe I won’t even have the meeting… I don’t like that aggression. I don’t want that aggression at all,” he said. The U.S. president was due to meet Mr. Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires on November 30 and December 1. His comments came after a Russian court on November 27 ordered 12 of the 24 Ukrainian sailors who were captured by Russian forces to be held in custody for two months. (The other 12 sailors were subsequently ordered held for the same time period.)
Russian court jails captured sailors
A Russian court on November 27 ordered 12 of the 24 Ukrainian sailors who were captured by Russian coast-guard forces during a confrontation at sea off Crimea to be held in custody for two months. (The other 12 sailors were subsequently ordered held for the same time period.) The rulings by the court in Symferopol, the capital of Russian-controlled Crimea, signaled the Kremlin’s defiance of calls by Kyiv and the West to release two dozen crew members who were seized along with three vessels of the Ukrainian Naval Forces following hours of hostility at sea two days earlier. Aider Azamatov, the lawyer for one of the defendants, said the sailors were charged with illegal border crossing by a group of individuals acting in collusion, or by an organized group, or with the use of or the threat to use violence. He said the sailors faced up to six years in prison if convicted. (RFE/RL)
International concern about Kerch incident
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “greatly concerned” about the November 25 maritime incident near the Kerch Strait and called on “both parties to exercise maximum restraint and to take steps without delay to contain this incident and reduce tensions,” his spokesman said in a statement. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking after talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, called on “all sides to show restraint.” Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said Russia’s actions constituted “war in Europe,” adding that this “will not, shall not and cannot ever again be accepted as business as usual” and urging the international community “to condemn the Russian aggression clearly, collectively and immediately and demand a stop to the aggression.” Mr. Lavrov, responding to a suggestion from German Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Maas that Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine could work together to resolve the conflict, said: “I don’t see a need for any kind of mediators.” Repeating Russia’s stated position, he said Western countries should send a “strong signal” to Kyiv to avoid any future “provocations.” (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Putin accuses Poroshenko of electoral ploy
In his first public comments on the maritime incident that increased already high tensions between Kyiv and Moscow and sparked concerns of a widening of the simmering war between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Russia’s accusation that the Ukrainian boats trespassed in Russian waters – a claim Kyiv has denied. “It was without doubt a provocation,” Mr. Putin told a financial forum in Moscow. He claimed that the confrontation was orchestrated by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who opinion polls indicate faces an uphill battle in his expected bid for a second term in an election now officially scheduled for March 31. “It was organized by the president ahead of the elections,” Mr. Putin said, adding that Mr. Poroshenko “is in fifth place, ratings-wise, and therefore had to do something. It was used as a pretext to introduce martial law.” The Russian president claimed that the Ukrainian “military vessels intruded into Russian territorial waters and did not answer” the Russian coast guard. “What were they supposed to do?” Responding to a question from a foreign investor at the forum, he said: “They would do the same in your country. This is absolutely obvious.” While laying the blame squarely on Ukraine, Mr. Putin – whose country could face fresh Western sanctions over the clash – also sought to play it down, saying it was nothing more than a border incident and calling martial law an exaggerated response. (RFE/RL)
Presidential election set for March 31, 2019
Ukraine has formally scheduled its presidential election for March 31, 2019. A resolution setting the date was signed by Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy on November 28, the website of the single-chamber Parliament said. It came after President Petro Poroshenko vowed that the imposition of martial law in 10 regions for a 30-day period would not mean a postponement of the vote. Martial law was introduced in regions that have coastlines or border Russia or Moldova’s Moscow-backed breakaway Transdniester region after Russia seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels and their crews in a confrontation off Crimea on November 25. Critics had speculated that Mr. Poroshenko, who polls show faces an uphill battle for re-election, might seek to postpone the election. (RFE/RL)
Ukraine marks Holodomor anniversary
Ukraine has marked the 85th anniversary of the Stalin-era famine, known as the Holodomor, in which millions of people died of starvation. The anniversary was also marked by U.S. criticism of what Washington called “ongoing aggression in eastern Ukraine” by Russia and “attempts” by Moscow “to destroy the identity and Western aspirations of the people of Ukraine.” Moscow responded by rejecting critics who describe the Holodomor exclusively as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his wife, Maryna, on November 24 laid bouquets fashioned from wheat stalks and red flowers at a memorial to the victims of the Holodomor on Kyiv’s Mykhailivska Square. Mr. Poroshenko, in a statement posted on his Facebook page, also said the Holodomor was an “artificial” famine and a terrible crime committed by Soviet authorities in the early 1930s. “In the name of Ukraine’s preservation, we must always remember the terrible crimes committed by the communist regime on Ukrainian lands,” he said. The Holodomor took place in 1932 and 1933 as Soviet authorities forced peasants in Ukraine to join collective farms by requisitioning their grain and other food products. Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holodomor each year on the fourth Saturday of November to commemorate those who died during the tragedy, which many Ukrainians consider as an act of genocide aimed at wiping out Ukrainian farmers. In a video posted on Twitter to mark the Holodomor anniversary, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Jovanovich said, “Even during the darkest times, the Ukrainian people have continued to struggle for peace, freedom, and democracy with dignity.” She added, “The United States stands with the people of Ukraine.” Along with Ukraine, at least 15 other countries have officially recognized the Holodomor as “genocide” – but not the United States. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Interfax)