The recent Ukrainian provocation in the Kerch Strait aimed at "shaking Ukraine up" via imposing martial law in the country, and also at stepping up Western sanctions against Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Sputnik on Monday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2018) The recent Ukrainian provocation in the Kerch Strait aimed at "shaking Ukraine up" via imposing martial law in the country, and also at stepping up Western sanctions against Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Sputnik on Monday.
"The aims [of the provocation] are clear: to shake Ukraine up via imposing martial law, and to mobilize the anti-Russian policies of the West, to step up the anti-Russian sanctions," Karasin said.
"Obviously, it is easier for [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko to carry out his election campaign amid this background," Karasin added.
Earlier on Monday, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council decided to impose martial law on the territory of Ukraine for a period of 60 days. The decision is to be approved by the Ukrainian parliament that will gather for an urgent meeting at 14:00 GMT.
On Sunday, three ships of the Ukrainian Navy, in violation of Articles 19 and 21 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, crossed the Russian sea border, entered the temporarily closed area of the Russian territorial waters, and were moving from the Black Sea toward the Kerch Strait, according to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
The FSB later said that the same three ships of the Ukrainian Navy � Berdyansk, Nikopol and Yany Kapu � had been detained after violating Russian state border. The Ukrainian ships did not react to legal demands of the ships accompanying them and made dangerous maneuvers, the FSB noted.
