NATO is concerned about Russia's plans to restrict access to a number of areas of the Black Sea, calls for free access to Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov, as well as freedom of navigation, NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said on Friday
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2021) NATO is concerned about Russia's plans to restrict access to a number of areas of the Black Sea, calls for free access to Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov, as well as freedom of navigation, NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said on Friday.
"We are concerned by reports that Russia plans to restrict access to parts of the Black Sea and the Kerch Strait. This would be an unjustified move and part of a broader pattern of destabilizing behavior by Russia. We call on Russia to ensure free access to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov and allow freedom of navigation," Lungescu said in a statement.
"Russia's ongoing militarisation of Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov are further threats to Ukraine's independence of Ukraine, and undermine the stability of the broader region," the statement says.
On April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry's Department of Navigation and Oceanography said that from 9 p.m. on April 24 to 9 p.m. on October 31, the right to passage through the Russian territorial waters in three regions of the Black Sea was suspended for foreign warships and other states' ships. At the same time, it was emphasized that the zones planned for closure would not interfere with navigation through the Kerch Strait, in addition, they are all located within the territorial waters of Russia.
