Ukrainian Parliament Deputy Speaker Slams Martial Law Introduction As 'Dictatorship'

The imposition of martial law in Ukraine due to the incident in the Kerch Strait with Russia is "a perfect opportunity" for the Kiev government to resort to dictatorship and election manipulation, Ukrainian Parliament's Deputy Speaker Oksana Syroyid said on Monday.

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2018) The imposition of martial law in Ukraine due to the incident in the Kerch Strait with Russia is "a perfect opportunity" for the Kiev government to resort to dictatorship and election manipulation, Ukrainian Parliament's Deputy Speaker Oksana Syroyid said on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) decided to impose martial law on the territory of Ukraine for a period of 60 days. The chief of the Ukrainian General Staff has ordered to put the country's armed forces on full combat alert.

"Martial law on the whole territory of Ukraine is a perfect opportunity to manipulate presidential elections and, if necessary, use a bit of dictatorship," Syroyid wrote on Facebook.

The deputy speaker noted that Kiev had not done the same when the referendum was held in Crimea even though there was a real need for such measure.

"But then-acting president and now Secretary of NSDC [Oleksandr Turchynov] did not see grounds for imposing martial law .

.. Martial law was not introduced where needed, and when it was needed ... The president [Petro Poroshenko] and the current NSDC secretary simply did not see any political advantage for themselves," Syroyid stressed.

Ukraine is set to hold a presidential election on March 31, 2019, while parliamentary elections are scheduled for October next year.

On Sunday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that three ships of the Ukrainian Navy in violation of Articles 19 and 21 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, crossed the Russian sea border, entered the temporarily closed area of the Russian territorial waters, and were moving from the Black Sea toward the Kerch Strait. The Ukrainian ships did not react to legal demands of the ships accompanying them and made dangerous maneuvers and were detained after violating Russian state border, according to the FSB.