Kiev Lodges Protest With Russia Over Partial Closure Of Black Sea Waters For Drills

Kiev Lodges Protest With Russia Over Partial Closure of Black Sea Waters for Drills

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Thursday lodged a protest with Moscow over the closure of a part of the Black Sea for holding military drills

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Thursday lodged a protest with Moscow over the closure of a part of the Black Sea for holding military drills.

"Russia has announced the closure of a part of the Black Sea starting from next week and until October in the direction of the Kerch Strait for warships and state vessels of other countries under the pretext of holding military exercises. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry lodges a resolute protest with Russia over these actions, and demands immediate cancellation of the decision on the illegal closure of some maritime areas of the Black Sea," the statement said.

According to the ministry, Kiev views these actions as a violation of norms and principles of international law, since Ukraine has the right to regulate shipping in these areas of the Black Sea.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the scheduled military drills should not be interpreted as a manifestation of aggression. According to her, the scale of these exercises does not exceed the scale of maneuvers of previous years, and "looks much more modest than the exercises of the armed forces of Ukraine and NATO countries."

On Monday, the G7 foreign ministers and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, expressed concerns over the Russian armed forces' movement on the border with Ukraine and in Crimea, and called for de-escalation. Russia maintains that the troop movement is aimed at ensuring national security in response to NATO's build-up near Russia's border.