Russia turns the Sea of Azov into an “inland lake”
Russia continues to use its military presence in the temporarily occupied Crimea to restrict freedom of navigation through the Kerch Strait and further transform the Sea of Azov into its “inland lake.”
According to Ukrinform’s own correspondent, this was stated by Ukraine’s mission to the OSCE during a meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation in Vienna on Wednesday.
“The Russian Federation continues to block huge maritime areas in the Black Sea under the pretext of military education, which disrupts international trade and navigation. Using its military presence in the temporarily occupied Crimea, Russia is turning the Sea of Azov into its” inland lake, “the Ukrainian delegation said.
Its members informed the present diplomats of the OSCE participating States about the continuation of the restricted freedom of navigation through the Kerch Strait, introduced by Russia.
“According to an open source, in October 2021, accidental delays of ships from the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov, Mariupol and Berdyansk by the Russian Federation lasted 34.5 years. from the Sea of Azov of the Russian Federation for an average of 37.9 years, ”Ukrainian diplomats said.
They pointed out that in the period from December 2018 to December 2020 due to the threat of the “Azov package” of international sanctions against Russian ports in the Sea of Azov there was a decrease in the average duration of arbitrary court delays before leaving the Sea of Azov in the Black Sea: if in 2018 this delay was 79.5 years. per vessel, then in 2019 – up to 37.4 hours, and in 2020 – 29.6 years. However, for 9 months of 2021, this figure “increased significantly to 39.7 hours per ship.”
The Mission of Ukraine to the OSCE called on the Russian Federation to stop the aggression against Ukraine and the illegal occupation of the ARC and the city of Sevastopol, to liberate certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and restore freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, through the Kerch Strait and in the Sea of Azov.