Ukrainian ships violated nothing in Kerch Strait - Russian expert

Ukrainian warships did not violate the state border in the Kerch Strait area. This was stated by expert in the field of maritime law, professor at the Russian University of Transport Vasiily Gutsuliak, - Russian The Insider reports.

"Hysteria that is being injected today has nothing to do with international maritime law. It is designed for the average man who is not even familiar with the basics of the law of the sea. I will reveal a terrible secret: the warships of Ukraine did not violate the state border, this is absurd", - he said.

According to him, the regime of the land border and sea border are two big differences.

He explained that, in contrast to the land border, the procedure for crossing the sea is regulated by a number of international legal acts and federal laws.

"According to these norms, foreign ships, including warships, have the right to carry out the so-called peaceful passage. Peaceful passage is a passage to cross the territorial sea for three reasons: entering the port, crossing the territorial sea (for example, to shorten the route), or leaving the port", - Gutsuliak noted.

He also refers to the Russian Federal Law of July 31, 1998 "On inland sea waters, territorial sea and contiguous zone of the Russian Federation".

"Pay attention to Articles 12 and 13: it says in black and white that warships also have the right to innocent passage, but with certain requirements: the passage must be fast, continuous, and so on. The regime of the Kerch Strait is governed by bilateral agreement - The Treaty of 2003 between Russia and Ukraine. It is small in size, there are only five articles, but they strictly regulate the regime. According to the article of this agreement, warships of both states enjoy the freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait. Thus, the maximum that the Ukrainian ships could break are navigation rules that relate to the safety of navigation. But it is unlikely that the use of military weapons can be called reasonable in this connection. It is like a warning headshot", - the expert explained.

He called the situation on the Azov "very sad".

"The fact that the military is already using military weapons speaks volumes. It seems to me that such issues should be resolved through diplomatic channels. Everyone saw this video, after watching which doubts arise about the adequacy of the person who commands the steersmen. Therefore, until there was no changes have been made to the contract of 2003, despite the proposals (on both sides) to do this, we must proceed from what exists. Pacta sunt servanda - contracts must be respected", - Gutsuliak stated.

As previously reported, on November 25, Russian ships opened fire on Ukrainian ships while leaving the Kerch Strait. Two armored boats Berdiansk and Nikopol and the Yany Kapu sea mule tugboat were captured by the aggressors. The Russians moored them in the port of occupied Kerch.

The Prosecutor General's Office, jointly with the SBU, has registered and is carrying out urgent investigative actions on the act of waging a war of aggression by the Russian Federation (under Art. 437 of the Criminal Code).

The Russian Federation, in turn, stated that the Ukrainian warships had illegally penetrated the territorial waters of their state and headed for the Kerch Strait, had not warned about the transfer and carried out dangerous maneuvers.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko convened a war cabinet because of the escalation of situation in the Sea of Azov. At midnight, a meeting of the NSDC was held, during which the President of Ukraine supported position of the military committee on the imposition of martial law. Following the meeting, the NSDC sent a proposal to the Parliament to impose martial law for 60 days. The Rada will hold an emergency meeting on November 26 at 4 p.m.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg agreed to urgently convene an emergency meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission because of Russia's aggression.