China calls on Russia and Ukraine to show restraint and avoid escalation in the Black Sea amid the incident in the Kerch Strait, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2018) China calls on Russia and Ukraine to show restraint and avoid escalation in the Black Sea amid the incident in the Kerch Strait, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday.
On Sunday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that 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. The Ukrainian ships did not react to legal demands of the ships accompanying them and made dangerous maneuvers and were detained after violating Russian state border, according to the FSB.
"We have taken note of the relevant reports, China calls on all respective parties to show restraint and avoid escalating the situation," Geng said at a briefing.
The Chinese side urges Kiev and Moscow to stick to the consultations in order to settle the conflict through dialogue, according to the spokesman.
The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) earlier on Monday decided to impose martial law on the territory of Ukraine for a period of 60 days. The chief of the Ukrainian General Staff has ordered to put the country's armed forces on full combat alert.
