DISINFO: Ukrainian ships illegally crossed the Russian border in the Kerch Strait
SUMMARY
Ukrainian navy officers, who were detained on 25 November 2018 when the Ukrainian navy ships illegally crossed the border with Russia in the Kerch Strait, will be imprisoned until 24 July 2019.
RESPONSE
No evidence given for illegal border crossing. A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the Kerch strait incident. On November 25th 2018, border patrol boats belonging to Russia’s FSB security service seized two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tug boat 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, which in the treaty are considered to be the “internal waters” of both Russia and Ukraine.