The Russian Federation has announced starting the next week till October 2021 the closure of the part of the Black sea in the direction of the Kerch strait for the warships and state vessels of other states under the pretext of military trainings. 

Such actions of the Russian Federation constitute another attempt in violation of norms and principles of international law to usurp the sovereign rights of Ukraine, as a coastal state, since it is Ukraine that is endowed with the right to regulate the navigation in these water areas of the Black Sea. 

This step is also a gross violation of the freedom of navigation, guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. According to the Convention, the Russian Federation should not hinder or interfere the transit passage through the international strait to the ports of the Sea of Azov. 

Against the backdrop of the ongoing military build-up along the state border with Ukraine, Russia expanded its escalation on the sea. It transfers warships from the Caspian Sea, reinforces its military capabilities in the Azov-Black Sea region and, without any legal grounds, decided to close this water area for foreign warships, including Ukrainian ones. 

Such a behaviour clearly indicates Russia’s unwillingness to end its aggression against Ukraine with the use of military and hybrid methods. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its resolute protest over these actions of the Russian Federation and demands that it revoke immediately the unlawful decision on the closure of the certain water areas of the Black Sea. We call on international partners to increase political and diplomatic pressure against the aggressor-state in order to revoke the decision on the closure of the water areas and to stop the escalation in the Azov-Black Sea region.