“The next and extremely important stage in countering Russian aggression is the announcement of Ukraine’s maritime regime area with the goal of prohibiting ships from entering all Crimean ports and prohibiting Russia's illegal activities in the territorial waters of Ukraine around the Crimean peninsula,” the statement said.
The department noted that the implementation by Russia of electronic navigation maps of areas adjacent to the Crimea in the Black and Azov Seas "creates a threat to navigation."
“Such actions of the aggressor country caused duplication of production cards of Ukraine with production cards of Russia and created a threat to navigation, since such duplication when using cards in ship equipment can lead to unpredictable behavior of ships and their collisions,” the State Hydrography noted.
According to the head of the enterprise, Alexander Schiptsov, the creation of a security zone will minimize risks for sailors and will remove responsibility from Ukraine for any emergency events.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed protest over the trip of Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the Crimea.
Senator from the Republic of Crimea Sergey Tsekov called such a protest evidence of the impotence of Kiev.
Crimea became the Russian region after a referendum held in March 2014, in which most residents spoke out for reunification with Russia.