Kyiv should respond to inspections of Ukrainian ships by Russian border guards in the Sea of Azov by building up coastal military units and aviation, and also continue to get on the nerves of its Western “partners.”
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe Dmitry Kuleba stated this on the air of the Majlis TV channel “ATR”, the correspondent of “PolitNavigator” reports.
“There is an attempt at a creeping, or rather floating, annexation. They want to create a territory of fear, kill economic initiative, because what kind of ship will sail to Mariupol if you can be stopped every two hours, and downtime means money. They are trying to close the Sea of Azov to themselves.
In my opinion, the answer to this is twofold. The first is to strengthen our military presence there. What we cannot catch up with the Russians in terms of fleet, we can do through coastal forces and aviation, although the fleet also needs to be strengthened. The second is the inclusion of the Azov issue specifically in the broader agenda of relations with the Russians. Not only our relations, but also the relations between Americans and Europeans. These are two things that must happen in parallel, one will not work without the other,” he explained.
Let us recall that earlier “PolitNavigator” cited a statement by Russian senator Franz Klintsevich that the arrests and kidnappings of Russian ships by Ukraine are lawlessness, which may provoke the Russian Federation to take tough actions.