MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Moscow demands from Kiev authorities to return the detained March 25, in the sea of Azov of the Russian fishing vessel “Nord” and the release of 10 crew members. This was stated at a briefing Director of the Department of information and press of the Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
“There is another provocative stunt by Ukrainian authorities against Russian citizens, she said. – With regard to the crew of the Ukrainian border guards acted just like the Somali pirates. The crew had all the necessary documents for the implementation of fisheries in the sea of Azov, and carried out fishing in strict accordance with the applicable rules of fisheries”.
The Russian side drew the attention of the official representative of the Russian foreign Ministry considers the action of Kiev “as an attempt to take revenge on the inhabitants of the Crimea for their conscious choice in favor of returning to Russia, made in March 2014.” “We demand the immediate release of crew and return the vessel “Nord” rightful owner”, – said Zakharov.
About the detention of the vessel
Seiner “Nord” was in the Crimea. As previously reported TASS the assistant to the head of the state border service of Ukraine press-Secretary Oleg Slobodyan, the vessel is in Berdyansk city on the Azov sea coast in Zaporizhya region. According to authorities, during the inspection of the vessel detected the trawl to fish and 5 tons of seafood.
According to the owner of the vessel, crew members are charged with part 2 of article 204 of the Code of administrative offences of Ukraine (“violation of the order of entry in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and departure from it”), which shall entail imposing a fine or administrative arrest up to 15 days. The owner believes illegal actions of Ukrainian border guards who arrested the ship and “threat to life and safety of citizens of the Russian Federation”.
The captain is charged with article 332-1 of the criminal code of Ukraine (“violation of the order of entry in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and departure from it with the purpose of causing harm to the interests of the state”) that threatens with restriction of liberty for a term up to three years or imprisonment for the same term, with confiscation of vehicles.
The authorities of Crimea and Sevastopol March 16, 2014 held a referendum on reunification with Russia, and was attended by more than 80% of eligible voters. For reunification with Russia in the Crimea and Sevastopol voted accordingly of 95.6% and 96.7% of participants in the referendum. 18 March of the same year the President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed the agreement on the accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation, and on March 21 the document was ratified by the Federal Assembly. Despite the strong results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea part of Russia.
