The United States believes that Russia has resorted to “a unilateral act of aggression against Ukrainian warships.”
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor said this in an interview with the Kyiv online publication “Apostrophe”, answering the question whether it was a surprise for him that Russian border guards detained Ukrainian ships that tried to break into the Sea of Azov.
“Yes, it was very unexpected. The Sea of Azov is jointly managed by Ukraine and Russia, both (countries) have a coastline, and the consent of both countries is required on the movement of ships. Since 2003, there has been an agreement signed by Vladimir Putin, so it was definitely a surprise that the Russians resorted to a unilateral act of aggression against Ukrainian warships,” the diplomat said.
“We could all already read in the media and listen to audio recordings of a conversation between one of the Russian border guards and his boss or someone else on the ground. And it seems that there was more preliminary preparation than the Russians say. If you look at this in the broader context of the gradual squeezing, Russian pressure on Ukraine, these actions look consistent. I would say are part of this gradual compression,” Taylor added
He also claims that the Russian Federation is increasing pressure on Ukraine “to prevent it from succeeding as a strong and wealthy democracy that goes its own way.”
Let us recall that on November 25, two small armored artillery boats “Berdyansk” and “Nikopol”, as well as the tugboat “Yany Kapu”, attempted to pass through the Kerch Strait, which was closed by Russia. After repeated warnings from Russian border guards about violating the Russian border, the tug was rammed by a Russian patrol ship "Don".
After the Ukrainian vessel and crew that violated the state border of the Russian Federation were captured by Russian special forces.