The US wants to get into the Sea of Azov
After the incident in the Kerch Strait, Ukraine urgently needs to prove in court that Russia’s actions denounced the 2003 agreement on the joint use of the Sea of Azov. Now Kyiv has the right to invite NATO ships to Azov and stake out the water area as international.
Mark Voyger, ex-special adviser to the commander of the US Army in Europe, said this during a live broadcast on the Espresso TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“They, indeed, violated the 2003 agreement between Ukraine and Russia, in this sense it can be considered that the Russian Federation itself denounced this agreement. In fact, these waters are already international. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an international zone of this water area, proving in an international court that Russia denounced the treaty, and attract the international community.
Secondly, NATO ships need to be invited to show that this sea is open for international navigation.
For Russia, control over Ukraine is a big goal, but in the long term, the Sea of Azov is not the limit of their strategic desires. They want to drive the NATO and US fleets out of the Black Sea.
Imagine a situation in the future when Ukraine is a member of NATO, and if NATO ships could not enter the Sea of Azov, there would be a paradox,” the American said.
“Russia is now trying to isolate Azov, this leads to economic losses for Western companies. We can imagine: today Azov, tomorrow some kind of provocation against the Kerch Bridge, then in the territorial waters near Crimea, which are controlled by Russia, then there will be some kind of gas production drilling rig in the Black Sea and, in the end, the borders of the waters of a NATO country will be affected .
This situation threatens to escalate in the future, and I believe that NATO has every right, if your leadership invites, to send ships to show that the Sea of Azov is still international, and not just internal to Ukraine and Russia,” added Mark Voyger.
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