Sevastopol has recognized that the issue of resuming ferry service with Turkey cannot be resolved, as stated by Director of the Crimean Sea Agency LLC (ferry operator) Stanislav Gvozdilov, Crimea News reports.

According to Gvozdilov, such questions will have to be discussed by Moscow and Ankara.

"The ferry service, which was interrupted in March, has not been resumed. For now, there is no opportunity to do so. The issue here must be resolved at the governmental level," he said.

The publication notes that ferry service between Sevastopol and the Turkish Zonguldak had been organized in late October 2016; a message regarding the decision (to end the service) was sent in March 2017 by the Turkish side.

The Spokesperson for the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (GPU), Larisa Sargan, reported on October 12 that the leadership of the Chamber of Shipping of the Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry had sent a circular letter to all subjects of the shipping and port business, titled "Certain Principles of Navigation in the Black Sea and Crimea Regions."

Turkish ports, marine agents, operators and ship-owners were officially informed that "vessels arriving from the region of the Russian-annexed Crimea and its ports are not allowed to enter Turkey, and permission to sail from the ports of this region will not be provided."

In late September, during a meeting in Ankara with the leadership of the Turkish Ministry of Justice, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko handed over a list to the Turkish side naming ships that had entered the closed ports of the Russian-annexed Crimea.

The entry of ships under foreign flags into closed seaports and terminals in the annexed Crimea and Sevastopol is considered by Ukraine to be a violation of international law and an action that undermines the sovereignty of the country, as well as a violation of Ukrainian law. Such actions engage the responsibility of ship-owners, operators and shipmasters, including penal responsibility.

  Crimea, Turkey, Ukraine

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