Russia falsely stated that it was ready to help rescue a Ukrainian fishing vessel in distress in the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry said on July 3.
In the early hours of July 3, a Ukrainian fishing vessel with four people on board sent a distress signal. It was near the Tendra Spit, a sandbar in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. Its main engine failed and the boat was de-energized. The wind started to carry the vessel into the open sea.
A civilian ship heading to Georgia received the distress signal and informed the Odesa State Border Detachment. It sent the naval guard boat Balaklava to help. It tugged the fishing boat to its port of departure in Ochakiv in Mykolaiv Oblast.
Russian authorities announced that its boat responded to the distress call of the Ukrainian boat. They said that the boat, a military vessel, passed the distress call to the Ukrainian authorities, and headed to help the fishermen.
Ukraine’s government denied it, saying that Russian ships in the areaignored the distress signal, and Russia’s statement about helping the Ukrainian fishing boat came out when it was already being towed to a port.
Defense Ministry accused Russia of intentional disinformation.
Having illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, Russia also tries to claim Ukrainian territorial waters around Crimea, as well as the international waters.
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