Moscow completed the transfer procedure to Kiev of three ships of the Ukrainian Navy, detained by Russian border guards in the fall of 2018. Then the Ukrainian Navy carried out a deliberate provocation in the Kerch Strait. The transfer of ships was reported by the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“These ships are material evidence in the ongoing criminal process in Russia on the illegal crossing of our border. Their transfer to custody of the Ukrainian side was made possible due to the fact that the Russian competent authorities completed the necessary investigative actions in relation to the ships and their presence on the territory of the Russian Federation to continue the criminal process is not required, ”the statement said.

Meanwhile, Russian diplomats recalled that the actions of the previous top leadership of Ukraine, who ordered the provocation to be carried out, are a crime both against the sovereignty of Russia and against Ukrainian citizens who were deliberately endangered and pushed to commit offenses.

“The Russian side intends to continue to harshly suppress any provocations at its borders, including with a view to ensuring the safety of navigation in accordance with Russian law, bilateral treaties and other applicable norms of international law,” the Russian Foreign Ministry concluded.

As noted by the commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Igor Voronchenko, the ships will be towed to Odessa.

“Now the reception and transmission is ending, and we are beginning to tow them,” the UNN agency quoted the Ukrainian Navy commander in chief.

Initially, this procedure could go through in the summer, but the Russian initiative did not receive support from Pavel Klimkin, who at that time held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

“Ships can be handed over, but under written guarantees of the participation of each of the 24 sailors in pre-trial and trial and the safety of ships as material evidence,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the radio of Komsomolskaya Pravda.

At the same time, on the eve of the lawyer of Ukrainian sailors detained after the incident in the Kerch Strait in the fall of 2018, Nikolai Polozov said that the next step should be to stop the criminal prosecution of his clients. Recall that all of them have already returned to Ukraine on September 7, 2019 as part of the exchange of temporarily held persons between Kiev and Moscow.

“After the return of seized sailors and their ships to Ukraine, the natural and reasonable end to this whole story in Russia should be the end of the criminal case against the sailors,” the lawyer wrote on Facebook.

Earlier, Russian diplomats pointed out that it is impossible to apply the procedures described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to the incident that occurred in the fall of 2018. The Kremlin also emphasized that the transfer of Ukrainian ships is in no way connected with the decision of the UN court.

“As for the transfer of ships, you know that these ships violated the state border of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, our border guards, the Federal Security Service, are doing this, so please contact us for comments, ”added Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian president.

  • The tugboat Yany Kapu and the small armored artillery boats Nikopol and Berdyansk in the port of Kerch
  • Reuters
  • © Alla Dmitrieva

Recall, on November 25, 2018, the tugboat Yany Kapu and the small armored artillery boats Nikopol and Berdyansk illegally crossed the state border of Russia and entered the territorial waters of the country. The FSB border guards were forced to use force: the ships on which 22 sailors and two SBU officers were detained. As it turned out later, the crews of warships deliberately went into violation of the established procedure for the sea passage through the Kerch Strait.

In July 2019, the detainees were charged under part 3 of article 322 of the Criminal Code "Illegal crossing of the state border of the Russian Federation, committed by an organized group."

Meanwhile, on September 7, 22 sailors and two SBU officers returned to Ukraine as a result of the exchange of retained persons between Russia and Ukraine in the 35-by-35 format. The corresponding agreement was reached by the presidents of the two states - Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky - during a telephone conversation. At the same time, Ukrainian security officials were released from custody under the personal obligation of the authorized representative of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights, Lyudmila Denisova, “as a person who deserves trust, according to Art. 103 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. ”