Ukraine Reiterates Call For 'Germany, Allies' To Increase Presence In Black Sea
By RFE/RL
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has renewed a call for "Germany and the allies" to increase their naval presence in the Black Sea in order to be a "deterring factor" for Russia.
Poroshenko said in an interview with Germany's Funke Media Group on December 2 that "we need a strong, unified, unambiguous reaction to Russia's aggressive behavior."
He also said that Russia had deployed a large number of troops along its border with Ukraine, a charge he previously made days ago, and alleged that Russia intends to extend its control within Ukraine.
"Moscow is trying to create a land corridor from occupied Donbas to occupied Crimea by blockading [the port cities of] Mariupol and Berdyansk," said Poroshenko, naming the two largest Ukrainian cities on the coast of the Sea of Azov.
The allegations come following a November 25 clash in the Black Sea between Russian and Ukrainian forces that saw the Russian Coast Guard firing upon and seizing three Ukrainian naval boats and their 24 crew members.
The incident increased tensions between Kyiv and Moscow to their highest point since Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and led to Poroshenko getting parliament to implement 30 days of martial law in several Ukrainian regions.
Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the clash in the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov.
Russia closed the strait to all sea traffic during that incident and Kyiv says Russia is denying passage to Ukrainian commercial traffic in and out of Mariupol and Berdyansk.
Western leaders -- including all members of the G7 -- have called on Russia to release the Ukrainian crew members and return the seized vessels to Kyiv.
NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said after Poroshenko first made his call for a stronger Western naval force in the Black Sea that "there is already a lot of NATO [vessels] in the Black Sea and we will continue to assess our presence in the region," the AP quoted her as saying.
Poroshenko also called for preventing the construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, a notion that has recently gained vocal support from Washington.
"We need to stop Nord Stream 2," he said, of the project that would eliminate the need to ship Russian gas through Ukraine to Western Europe. "We need to think about new sanctions [against Russia] now."
"Everything depends on Russia, the country that is waging a hybrid war against Ukraine," Poroshenko continued. "Our country has never provoked any military escalation."