President Poroshenko: Russia unlikely to release Ukrainian prisoners before elections
During an interview on ICTV, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that he does not expect Russia to release the Ukrainian soldiers it is holding prisoner before Ukraine’s presidential elections on 31 March, the Presidential pres-service reports.
“Putin clearly stressed that he will not take a single step,” Poroshenko said, adding that work to have the Ukrainians released is still underway.
“Not a single international meeting happens on the highest level where the matter of the release of the Ukrainian sailors and ships and the de-occupation of the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov would not be brought up by me, by the foreign minister at my instruction, or by our NATO partners,” Poroshenko responded when asked what the odds were of the Ukrainian sailors being released. They have already been detained in Russia for more than 100 days.
Poroshenko also mentioned the “Azov package” of sanctions that was imposed by Ukraine’s international partners due to Russia’s aggression.
On 25 November 2018, Russian soldiers off the coast of Crimea rammed into, opened fire on and captured three Ukrainian naval vessels – the artillery boats the Berdyansk and Nikopol and the tugboat Yany Kapu – which were heading from Odessa to Mariupol. Six Ukrainians were reportedly wounded in the attack.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed that weapons had been used against the Ukrainian boats, but claims that the Ukrainian vessels “illegally crossed the Russian state border”.
The Russia-controlled court in Crimea arrested the 24 captured crew members on charges of crossing the border illegally, which could result in a 6 year prison sentence. All of the Ukrainians were later transferred to Moscow.
The Prosecution Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has recognized the captured Ukrainian sailors as prisoners of war.
Russia’s actions around the Kerch Strait have been criticized by a number of European countries and the US. NATO has said that it is closely monitoring developments in the Kerch Strait, and has called for restraint and the de-escalation of tensions.