The FSB of Russia has announced that the Donbas Ukrainian ship allegedly approached the Kerch Strait yesterday, on December 9, without a preliminary application for passage, and regarded this as a provocation from Ukraine. Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov called this another Russian information attack, - RBC-Ukraine reports.
According to the minister, the Russian Federation continues its manipulations, calling the "incident" a provocation, since the Donbas vessel is a search and rescue vessel and has no weapons on board.
"Another information attack from Russia. It is very strange that the Russian special services saw a threat from a search and rescue vessel – a vessel without weapons, while the FSB ships are constantly at a distance of 2 kilometers from Mariupol and Berdiansk. Russian ships are armed with 30 mm cannons", - Reznikov noted.
The minister also noted that the Sea of Azov is a public water area, in connection with which Ukrainian ships have every right to be there.
"In general, the Sea of Azov is a shared water area, we are located there on legal grounds. The fact that they present a distance of 18 miles (33 km) as a danger to them speaks only of another manipulation", - Reznikov added.
Later, he stated on the air of the 1+1 TV channel that no incidents had occurred near the Kerch Strait. There is no threat to the crew of the Ukrainian Naval Forces' ship, the vessel returned to the harbor.