Acting SBI director: Interests of Ukrainian fleet priority in 'sailors case,' awaiting ITLOS decision

KYIV. Sept 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian fleet are of priority in the investigation of the case of the passage of the ships of the Ukrainian Navy through the Kerch Strait, Director of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Oleksiy Sukhachov said.

"As for the ‘sailors case’, it is now at the stage of pretrial investigation. Now we are closely following the process at the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) against Russia. It examines important aspects related to Russia’s violation of international law in the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov," said Sukhachov in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

In this context, acting SBI director noted that any word, even indirectly concerning violations of international law by the Russian Federation in the Kerch Strait and in the Sea of Azov, has serious weight, since information can be twisted and used against Ukraine.

"Therefore, all I can say now is that the investigation continues. And it is the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian fleet that are the priority in this case," Sukhachov emphasized.

Answering a clarifying question about the political coloring of this case, acting director of the SBI said: "There is no need to politicize this case. Therefore, we are waiting for the decision of the UN International Tribunal."

As reported, on November 25, 2018, Russian border guards detained the Yany Kapu Ukrainian tug and small armored artillery boats Berdiansk and Nikopol, heading from Odesa to Mariupol, with the use of weapons in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) described the incident as an act of provocation. Russia also said that Kyiv had not duly notified it that naval vessels were planning to pass through the Kerch Strait.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, the Russian Federation violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on cooperation in the use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.

Ukraine appealed to the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, demanding that measures be taken against the Russian Federation, the release of Ukrainian sailors and ships. The position of the Russian Foreign Ministry is that this tribunal does not have jurisdiction to consider the "Kerch incident". Therefore, Russia did not participate in the hearings.

On May 25, 2019, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea made a decision obliging the Russian Federation to release three Ukrainian vessels and 24 Ukrainian sailors detained in the Kerch Strait in November 2018 and allow them to return to Ukraine. Also, Moscow and Kyiv were supposed to provide reports on the incident in the Kerch Strait by June 25. On June 25, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent notes to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Ukrainian Embassy with initial information regarding the implementation of the temporary measures prescribed by the tribunal regarding the release of Ukrainian sailors and ships detained in the Kerch Strait.

In Russia, 24 Ukrainians on board, including two SBU officers, were charged with "illegal border crossing committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or by an organized group, or with the use of violence or with the threat of its use" (Part 3 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ).

All 24 military sailors returned to Ukraine within the framework of the mutual release of the detainees by Ukraine and the Russian Federation.