We deliberately committed provocation and border violation - detained Navy sailors
Ukrainian sailors admitted that they had violated the state border of the Russian Federation and realized that they were committing a provocation.
This is evidenced by footage of confessions of sailors published by the FSB Public Relations Center, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Thus, Andrei Drach, a crew member of the detained Nikopol vessel, said that during the crossing, Russian border guards warned Ukrainian sailors several times that they were violating the Russian border.
“On our way to the city of Mariupol through the Kerch Strait, we entered the territorial waters of the Russian Federation. We were warned by the Coast Guard of the Russian Federation that we were violating the legislation of the Russian Federation. We were repeatedly told to leave the territorial waters of the Russian Federation. When stopping at the anchorage, the coast guard warned us once again that we needed to leave the territorial waters of the Russian Federation and go out into the 12-mile zone and await further decisions on our passage through the Kerch Strait to the city of Mariupol,” Drach said.
His colleague Sergei Tsebezov also notes that before the ship was captured by Russian special forces, signal flares were fired into the sky.
“When we approached the Kerch Strait, we entered Russian waters, after which we were given orders to stop and wait for further commands. Green flare guns were seen before opening fire. Two. We continued on to Nikopol. Russian ships have already contacted us and asked us to stop, fall into reverse, otherwise they will open fire on us. The commander made a decision and stopped the boat. We were taken off the boat and that’s it,” Tsebezov said.
And the commander of the same tugboat “Yany Kapu” that was rammed by Russian border guards, Vladimir Lesovoy, said that he understood the provocative nature of his actions.
“After crossing the border, the Russian Federation visually observed the ships of the FSB Border Service. Requests to stop on the VHF radio station were deliberately ignored. At the time of the transition, there were small arms on board, as well as DShK machine guns with ammunition. He realized that the actions of the group of ships of the Ukrainian Navy were provocative in nature. I, as an official, carried out the order and planned to transfer a group of ships from the port of Odessa to the port of Mariupol,” admitted Lesovoy
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