Vilnius has introduced sanctions against Russia over the incident with Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait despite the fact that the international community has not taken any restrictive measures against Moscow, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2018) Vilnius has introduced sanctions against Russia over the incident with Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait despite the fact that the international community has not taken any restrictive measures against Moscow, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Friday.Earlier in the day, Grybauskaite met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The two officials discussed the security situation in eastern Ukraine and the Sea of Azov, as well as Lithuania's and international community's support to Ukraine.
"Lithuania firmly supports Ukraine and has introduced sanctions to people in charge of the aggression in the Kerch Strait and the Black Sea. Lithuania also stepped up its military support to Ukraine by additionally supplying more munitions, sending more military instructors and cyber security experts who would help countering hybrid attacks, especially during the elections," Grybauskaite said at the meeting as quoted by the presidential press service.
The Lithuanian president noted that it was not easy to be the first country to introduce sanctions against another country over some issue.
"Sometimes it is not easy to be the first when you impose sanctions. For example, we receive personal threats from Russia, namely my ministers and the foreign minister in particular have received [threats]," Grybauskaite added.
In late November, the European Union issued a statement on the incident in the Kerch Strait, but the document did not mention any decisions regarding new sanctions against Russia. The European Union, at the same time, called both on Russia and Ukraine to de-escalate tensions and exercise restraint.
Before the EU statement was adopted, media reported, citing diplomatic sources in the European Union, that France and Germany opposed more severe sanctions on Russia.
On November 25, three ships of the Ukrainian Navy Berdyansk, Nikopol, and Yany Kapu breached the Russian border, entered Russian territorial waters that were temporarily closed, and began moving toward the Kerch Strait, which serves as an entrance into the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian vessels and their crew were detained by Russia after failing to respond to a lawful demand to stop.
In response Poroshenko signed a decree declaring martial law in several Ukrainian regions located near the Russian border, and the coasts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the incident was a provocation prepared in advance as a pretext to introduce martial law in Ukraine. Putin said the provocation could be linked to Poroshenko's low approval rating ahead of the presidential campaign set to start in late December.
