generalspeaking

Condemning Russia

"I condemn Russian use of force in Azov Sea. Russian authorities must return Ukrainian sailors, vessels & refrain from further provocations. I discussed situation with Pres. Poroshenko and will meet his representatives later today. Europe will stay united in support of Ukraine."
Donald Tusk, President, European Council 

"[There was] irrefutable evidence that Kyiv prepared and orchestrated provocations ... in the Black Sea."
"These materials will soon be made public."
FSB, Russian Federal Security Service statement

"[What has occurred is] an invasion of Russian waters, [a] dangerous provocation."  
"Border trespassers are prosecuted according to the law, in strict accordance with legislation."
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov 

"Martial law doesn't mean declaring a war. It is introduced with the sole purpose of boosting Ukraine's defense in the light of a growing aggression from Russia."

"[Ukraine’s intelligence agencies had information there was a] serious threat of a ground operation [by Russia]."
"[Russia must immediately release the ships and sailors who have been] brutally detained in violation of international law."
"[Moscow must] ensure deescalation of the situation in the Sea of Azov as a first step [and ease tension more broadly]."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko

Three Ukrainian ships are seen as they are docked after being seized on Nov. 25, 2018, in Kerch, Crimea, Nov. 26, 2018. AP

Three Ukrainian marine vessels have been impounded by Russia in Crimea. Russia considers their ownership of Crimea to be legitimate after having illegally wrested it from Ukraine, and the waters to be their territorial possession. The Kremlin claims that the Ukrainian ships had no business trespassing into Russian territory. Their having done so represents a provocation leading a Russian ship to ram one of the Ukrainian ships, a tugboat accompanying two gunboats sailing from Odessa on the Black Sea to Mariupol via the Kerch Strait en route to Ukraine's eastern port.

Russia, of course, can claim anything it wants to. And Ukraine can deny those claims. But in the face of reality, it is the bully who comes out on top. The situation is so dire that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has been pressed to declare martial law, a temporary situation to what he can only hope will be a temporary blockade of Ukrainian ships, falling into a trap of Russian intransigent malevolence, one quite familiar to Ukraine. As the sole passage into the Sea of Azov should the Kerch Strait be closed off to Ukrainian passage it would spell an economic blockade Ukraine can ill afford.

Ukraine insists its navy had contacted Russian authorities in Crimea of its ships' intended passage, an obligatory courtesy to avoid just such a situation. Despite which a Russian ship fired on the trio of Ukrainian vessels forcing them to come to a stop before seizing them and their crews. NATO and the European Union have called on Moscow to open access to the strait to enable Ukraine to move its vessels to its cities on the Azov coast. The Ukrainian navy could not possibly move aggressively against the much larger Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.

A ship makes its way near to the Kerch bridge, in background, near in to Kerch, Crimea, Nov. 26, 2018. AP

As it is, having illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, building a bridge to connect Russian territory directly with Crimea, Moscow's move to block passage through the Kerch Strait separating the peninsula from the Russian mainland isolates Kyiv in a landscape already dominated by ethnic Russian Eastern Ukrainian rebels backed by Moscow. Tensions have been high for the past four years with Moscow forcibly challenging Ukrainian sovereignty, undermining a country that Russia has traditionally dominated, formerly part of the USSR.

Setting its coast guard up to open fire on three Ukrainian vessels in the process wounding two crew members has led to yet another violent standoff. It is clear who the aggressor always is and always has been. International indignation over yet another Russian violation of international relations seems to amuse Vladimir Putin. Enacting further sanctions on a country already under the burden of previous sanctions is functionally questionable. There seems to be no way to penetrate Russian imperturbability over its unlawful and destabilizing behaviour in Europe and the Middle East.

Russian jet fighters fly over a bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula after three Ukrainian navy vessels were stopped by Russia from entering the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea, Crimea, Nov. 25, 2018.  Pavel Rebrov/Reuter

Any such actions undertaken by Russia to continue reasserting its dominance in its near-abroad sends shivers of apprehension down the spines of Eastern Europe in anticipation of further, ongoing moves to alarm and threaten. The volatile nature of such eruptions are disquieting and there seems no solution in the offing, since Putin feels himself to be above the pedestrian concerns of all other nations critical of his leadership and the unease he brings to Europe.

Not only will there not be compensation of any kind to Ukraine for the damage done to its ships, much less guarantees for the safety of their crews, but Russia's belligerence and insistence that Ukraine is responsible for the standoff and the tension flies in the face of reality. Yet what is very real is the concern that Russia will be loathe to release the crew until it succeeds in draining Ukraine of patience, risking a further forced confrontation between Moscow and Kyiv, leaving NATO and the EU in a rather awkward position of incapacity to intervene.

The massive provocation of blocking the strait by blocking passage with a tanker ship leaving dozens of cargo ships frustratingly awaiting the possibility of passage represents a roguish move by a thuggish state. There appears to be no force on Earth that can stop Russia, China, Iran from their constant and concerning opposition to a world of settled order and security.

"[Russia's seizure of Ukrainian vessels represented] a dangerous escalation and a violation of international law." 
"The United States condemns this aggressive Russian action. We call on Russia to return to Ukraine its vessels and detained crew members, and to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters."
U.S. Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo

"What we saw yesterday was very serious."
"All allies expressed full support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. There is no justification for the use of military force against Ukrainian ships and naval personnel, so we call on Russia to release immediately the Ukrainian sailors and ships it seized yesterday."
NATO head Jens Stoltenberg 

Labels: Conflict, Crimea, Russia, Threats, Ukraine, Violence

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, November 27, 2018