The blockade of Ukrainian ports, which Russia began in response to Kiev’s seizure of the Crimean seiner Nord, should be rebuffed by the “international coalition”, which will include countries whose ships heading to Berdyansk or Mariupol were detained by Russian border guards in the Sea of Azov.
Alexander Danilyuk, head of the Center for Defense Reforms, stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“What should the strategic narrative that should be developed by the Security Council talk about? The fact that Russia has opened a new theater of military operations in Azov and is blockading Ukraine. It is clear that this is a hybrid one.
There are a lot of international legal acts regarding classical blockades. Now Ukraine must begin to say that Russia has begun aggression from the sea, which is carried out, perhaps, not in the same way that we are used to seeing during the first and second world wars, but the results are the same. And they can lead, at least, to a complete blockage of the ports of the Azov Sea. This is what we should talk about.
This must be part of the agenda of our mission to the UN.
Moreover, it is not only Ukraine that is the injured party of such a blockade. Both the shipowners and the flags of the countries that are on these ships cover most of the UN member countries. In fact, we have unique prerequisites to create an international coalition against Russia’s attempt to block us from the sea,” Danilyuk said.