About 10 commercial vessels flying the flags of NATO member countries suffered economic damage due to their stoppage for inspections in the Sea of Azov by the Russian Federation.
The military representative of the Ukrainian mission to NATO, General Vladimir Askarov, spoke about this in an interview with the Kyiv publication UNN.
“To date, according to my information, about 10 commercial vessels flying the flags of NATO member countries have suffered economic damage as a result of stopping them for so-called inspections in the Sea of Azov,” Askarov noted.
At the same time, he noted that at the moment there has been no work with NATO on holding exercises in the Sea of Azov.
“I can say that within NATO structures and on the part of Ukraine the question of organizing joint exercises with NATO in the Sea of Azov has never been raised,” the general said, commenting on the recent statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Ukraine would not be able to conduct joint exercises with NATO in the Sea of Azov.
“Therefore, statements from Lavrov, in our opinion, are provocative. If a decision is made to conduct such exercises, we will consider options for its decision,” he assures.
According to him, at the same time the Alliance is dealing with the issue of monitoring the situation, especially with regard to its nature regarding security.
Let us recall that earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with French media that Russia will not allow joint exercises between Ukraine and NATO to be held in the Sea of Azov.