Opinion: The Day Is Ours!... by Bohach
There is no doubt about the fact that the actions taken by the Russian party by shell attack and boarding Ukrainian vessels on November, 25 2018 is another arrogant violation of United Nations Charter, UN Convention of naval law and the Agreement between Ukraine and Russian Federation on partnership in Azov Sea and Kerch Strait deployment.
However these violations demand not only hard-line response from the world community, impudently neglected by RF, but they should also serve as foundation for additional restrictions in relation to the Kremlin, beginning with personal financial sanitations against Russian tycoons surrounding V. Putin, finishing by restrictions in relation to Russian foreign trade transactions which includes cutting off SWIFT system.
Having prevented Ukrainian vessels from clear passage to Ukrainian harbors in Azov Sea with further attack added to the list two more “brotherly” actions of RF in relation to Ukraine, considered by international law as acts of aggression:
- blockading of harbors or shores of a state by armed forces of another state;
- attacking by armed forces any state land, sea or air forces or sea or air fleets of other state.
In these circumstances, the attempt of the Russian party to make the situation with taking possession of Ukrainian vessels look like provocative act for United Nations Security Council, which could not have been reacted in a different way (and at the same time to record the admission at international level the fact that the maritime belt near Crimea belongs to Russia), did not find any approval with sitters. It is obvious that RF will resort to attempts like that when the problem of militarization of Black and Azov Seas and the Crimean Peninsula is reviewed by General Assembly alongside with constant discharge of fake messages about numerous violations by Ukraine international law regulations as return to nuclear weapons production or intentions to use chemical weapons against the so called DPR.
Let us recollect what we have seen earlier:
- bombardment by state armed forces the territory of another state or the use of any weapons by a state against the land of another state, which found its reflection in shooting by long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket system from Russian territory Ukrainian convoys on their way out of Ilovay pot. The conclusive evidence of that has been presented by Ukraine in international tribunal;
- intrusion or attack by state armed forces the land of another state or any kind of military occupation, no matter how temporary it is, what is the result of this intrusion or attack, or any kind of annexation of any state land or the part of it with the use of force;
- the use of armed forces of one state at the territory of another state according to the treaty with the host country, violating the conditions presupposed by the agreement or any prolongation of their stay at this territory after suspension of the treaty.
The remarkable is the fact that the above mentioned acts of aggression in relation to Ukraine from the part of RF during unlawful annexation of Crimea do not even need to be proved at international tribunal, as the host of the Kremlin V. Putin back in 2015 formally confirmed on the fact of participation of Russian troops (“green men”, that came as from Crimean marine bases so have been redisposed from Russian territory) in “the Crimean campaign” in 2014 (after having been claiming for one year on their non-participation) and presented them with state decorations.
I strongly believe that apart from aggression in relation to Ukraine, the current politics of Kremlin in Black and Azov Seas, namely, blocking harbors and vessels poses a threat to free international trade and this threat is to be removed by any means, both asymmetrical and mirror methods up to banning Russian vessels on calling at any harbor in countries of the civilized world.
А.Bohach. Independent expert
Before author wrote "Ukraine-Russia sea clash: What is to be next …"