Kiev's Law On Expanding Maritime Control Zone Cannot Be Applied To Azov Sea - Moscow

Kiev's draft legislation on the expansion of the controlled maritime territory cannot be applied to the Sea of Azov, because Russia and Ukraine share its waters, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2018) Kiev's draft legislation on the expansion of the controlled maritime territory cannot be applied to the Sea of Azov, because Russia and Ukraine share its waters, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

The Ukrainian parliament adopted in the first reading on October 8, the draft bill "On the adjacent zone of Ukraine," which would allow Kiev to expand the controlled maritime zone by 12 nautical miles allegedly to counter smuggling traffic in the Black Sea.

"We would like to point out two important points that relate to the peculiarities of the status of the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov.

The former is currently under the full sovereignty of Russia, as the only coastal state. As for the Sea of Azov, these are joint inland waters, part of the territory of Russia and Ukraine, both by virtue of existing bilateral agreements and customary international law," Zakharova said a weekly briefing in Moscow.

"Therefore, we believe that the draft Ukrainian legislation on adjacent maritime zone does not apply to these maritime territories," Zakharova stressed.