Ukraine will not renounce its 2003 treaty with Russia on shared use of the Azov Sea, even though the Kremlin has been abusing the agreement since launching its war on Ukraine in 2014, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal said on Aug. 27.
Russian coast guards have been blocking Ukrainian and foreign merchant ships from sailing to Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea since May, when Russia illegally opened a bridge between Russia and Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
Crimea has been under Russian military occupation since late February 2014, and Russia claims to be protecting its coastal security. However, its actions effectively amount to a blockade of Ukraine’s Azov Sea ports.
But renouncing the treaty with Russia is out of the question, Zerkal said as quoted on the Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account.
“It will give Russia an opportunity to declare a territorial dispute,” she said. “For us, it is a matter of security, therefore we are using the available instruments to resolve the issue.”
Tensions have been growing in recent months along the Azov Sea coast, which is close to the epicenter of Russia’s war on Ukraine in the Donbas and Russian-occupied Crimea.
Since the opening of the bridge in May until Aug. 21, Russia had reportedly stopped over 150 foreign vessels en route to the Ukrainian ports in the Azov Sea.
But according to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Russian coast guards are not violating the law when they stop vessels, as they have the right to carry out inspections and crew identifications.
All the same, Ukraine views such inspections as an instrument of political and economic pressure applied by the Kremlin.
Read more: Dangerous Waters: As Russia monopolizes Azov Sea, Mariupol feels heightened danger
