Kiev, Ukraine – Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has urged NATO to deploy warships to the Sea of Azov following a military standoff in the area between Russia and Ukraine.
Poroshenko’s remarks, part of a concerted push by Kiev at gaining Western support for more sanctions against Russia, were published in an interview with German newspaper, Bild, on Thursday.
In a sharp response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the comment was “clearly aimed at provoking further tensions” and driven by Poroshenko’s “electoral and domestic policy motives”.
Asked by Bild whether German warships should be deployed to the Sea of Azov, he said: “Germany is one of our closest allies, and we hope that states within NATO are now willing to deploy naval vessels to the Sea of Azov in order to support Ukraine and to guarantee its safety.”
Accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting “the old Russian empire back”, Poroshenko said: “The only language he understands is the unity of the Western world”.
“Crimea, Donbass, the whole country. As Russian tsar, as he sees himself, his empire cannot function without Ukraine. He sees us as his colony,” he said.
“We cannot accept Russia’s aggressive policy. First, it was Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, now he wants the Sea of Azov. Germany also has to wonder: what will Putin do next if we don’t stop him?”
In response, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called on Kiev “to be sensible” and said there was no military solution to the dispute.
Tense standoff
The tension between Ukraine and Russia reached new heights on Sunday after the Russian border patrol blocked three Ukrainian vessels travelling from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait – the shared waters of both states, according to a 2003 agreement.
In a further escalation of the standoff, a Russian court in Crimea later ordered a 60-day pre-trial detention for the 24 Ukrainian crew members captured by Moscow during the standoff.
According go their lawyers, the detainees were sent to Moscow on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities closed the administrative border with “temporarily occupied Crimea” for everyone except Ukrainian passport holders “in connection with the introduction of martial law”.
Ukraine does not have military or diplomatic leverage against Russia to free the sailors – whom Moscow has called “prisoners of war” – or to end what Kiev calls the blockade of the Sea of Azov.
However, it is unlikely that NATO, a military alliance that Ukraine is not a member of, would send naval vessels to the area “for the moment”, according to Oleksiy Melnyk, co-director of Razumkov Centre, a think-tank for foreign relations and international security in Kiev. Agencies
