Russia is further tightening the blockade of Ukrainian ports in Azov
Russia is further tightening its blockade of the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov, which began in response to Kiev’s seizure of the Crimean fishing seiner Nord with crew members who were required to recognize themselves as citizens of Ukraine.
Economist Andrei Klimenko, who previously served the Party of Regions and now declared himself an “expert on the Maidan of Foreign Affairs,” writes about this in his blog.
According to him, if previously Russian border guards detained ships going from or to Ukrainian ports for two to three hours, now this time extends to two to three days.
“All ships that go from the Black Sea to the Azov ports (note that I am only talking about Ukrainian ports) first arrive at an anchorage in the Kerch Strait. The ships always had to wait there until an oncoming caravan passed through the Kerch Strait. Sometimes we managed without it at all, but usually we had to wait from one to two hours. Now this period can be 70, 62, or 48 hours. That is, the process is deliberately delayed: ships going to Mariupol and Berdyansk are simply not included in those caravans passing through the Kerch Strait to the north...
Due to these actions, a particular ship can lose two, three, or four days that are not taken into account in calculating the duration of the voyage. These are very large losses,” writes Klimenko.
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