Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Berlin’s efforts to stop what Kyiv sees as the Russian blockade of the waters of the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait.
Poroshenko met with Merkel ahead of a European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday and expressed his gratitude for her special attention to the issue of securing the release of Ukrainian sailors detained by Russian border guards in the Kerch strait on November 25 and ensuring free navigation in the region, the president’s press service said on Thursday.
“The president also urged the EU countries to respond appropriately to the act of Russian aggression in the waters of the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait and the targeted impediment to freedom of navigation by introducing the so-called “Azov package of sanctions,” the message reads.
