PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2018) France is deeply concerned with the situation in Kerch Strait and calls on Russia and Ukraine to avoid escalation, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
"France is deeply worried about serious sea incidents that happened yesterday between Russia and Ukraine in the Kerch Strait," the statement said.
The communique states that according to the facts available at the moment, "Russia had no excuses for such use of force," and that Russia should free the Ukrainian sailors and return the seized ships.
"We call on Russia and Ukraine to show maximum restraint and avoid any military escalation," the French Foreign Ministry said.
On November 25, Ukraine's Berdyansk and Nikopol gunboats and the Yany Kapu tag crossed the Russian maritime border. The vessels sailed towards the Kerch Strait, an entrance to the Sea of Azov, where the ships were seized by Russia due to the lack of reply to a lawful demand to stop.
In response to the situation, Ukrainian authorities decided to introduce martial law in selected regions of Ukraine along the border with Russia as well as along the coast of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov for 30 days.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Moscow will suppress any attempts to challenge its sovereignty and security. The ministry added that the actions conducted by Kiev in coordination with the United States and the European Union and aimed at provocations in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, may lead to serious consequences. Similarly, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the detention was only a reaction from the Russian side to the entry of foreign military ships into Russia's territorial waters.
