Ukraine has received its vessels, recently transferred from Russia after being detained in the Kerch Strait last November for breaching Russia's maritime border, in "normal condition and with working sanitary equipment," the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) Ukraine has received its vessels, recently transferred from Russia after being detained in the Kerch Strait last November for breaching Russia's maritime border, in "normal condition and with working sanitary equipment," the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday.
Moscow returned to Ukraine on Monday the three warships, explaining that they were no longer needed for the probe. Ukrainian Navy Commander Ihor Voronchenko complained about the condition of the vessels, accusing Russia of "ruining" them.
"The FSB's public relations center releases videos showing outside and inside condition of the vessels at the moment of their transfer to the Ukrainian side, and procedures of signing handover agreements. It is seen clearly on the videos that the cutters and the tugboat were transferred to the Ukrainian side in a normal condition and with working sanitary equipment. If the Ukrainian side has managed to ruin the vessels and to bring the sanitary equipment to an inappropriate condition during the transition from the Crimean coast to Ochakiv, then this is the problem of the Ukrainian side," the FSB said in a statement.
On November 25, 2018, the three Ukrainian warships entered the temporarily closed Russian maritime area, moving toward the Kerch Strait, and refused to comply with the demands of the Russian authorities. The crew of the ships were transferred to Ukraine on September 7 as part of simultaneous detainee release.
