DISINFO: Incident in the Kerch Strait was a Ukrainian provocation
SUMMARY
Petro Poroshenko deliberately provoked incident in the Kerch Strait in order to impose martial law and to cancel the presidential election. Experts say that there is every reason to prosecute Poroshenko, but doubt that the case will be brought to an end.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation on Ukraine and Azov Sea that Ukrainian Navy deliberately violated Russian territorial waters during the Kerch strait incident, or that Petro Poroshenko instigated the provocation in Kerch Strait to extend his power. On November 25, border patrol boats belonging to Russia’s FSB security service seized two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and their crews after shooting at them, wounding several Ukrainian servicemen. Russia argued that they were in Russian waters. However, a bilateral treaty between Russia and Ukraine, signed in 2003 and ratified by Russia in 2004 governs the use of the Kerch strait and the Sea of Azov. The agreement states the stretch to be the “internal waters” of both Russia and Ukraine. On May 25, 2019, the United Nations Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered Russia to immediately release Ukrainian sailors and allow them to return to Ukraine.