Tensions over Ukraine: Moscow limits navigation off Crimea
A ship passes under the bridge connecting the rest of Russia to Crimea in the Kerch Strait.
Navigation on this strait which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov is vital for the Ukrainian economy.
Reuters / Pavel Rebrov
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Russian troops engaged in maneuvers in Crimea have begun their withdrawal, announces Moscow, which however maintains pressure in the region: it limits for six months the navigation of foreign military and official ships off the Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by the Russia.
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Three areas are affected by these limitations: the western tip of the peninsula, the southern tip, and, further east, around the Kerch peninsula.
The latter is the most controversial.
It is close to the Kerch Strait which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, the only passage for ships wishing to reach the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk.
These ports are of crucial importance for the exports of grain or steel produced in Ukraine.
In recent years, the conflict in the Donbass, the growing maritime tensions with Russia and the construction of a bridge over the strait, have seriously reduced the volume of trade.
Russia says it will not hinder the transport of goods or navigation through the Strait.
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To listen and read also: Putin and the West, the strategy of tension
When the restrictions were announced, the Russian Defense Minister suggested that they were precautionary measures.
"
The United States and NATO are continuing their provocations in the airspace and in the Black Sea,
" Sergei Choïgou said.
On the Ukrainian side, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced "
a usurpation of sovereign rights of Ukraine
".
In recent years, several skirmishes have occurred in this maritime area: in 2018, Russia seized
three Ukrainian military ships
near the Kerch Strait.
The crew members had spent ten months in detention in Russia.
►
See also: Russia has started to withdraw its troops massed at the Ukrainian border
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