Merkel calls on Putin to release Ukrainian sailors

Merkel and Putin had a telephone conversation, Deutsche Welle reports.

German Chancellor also stressed the "need for measures" aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation through the Kerch Strait.

As German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert reported, the parties also discussed the problem of "transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine after 2019." The details of the talks were not revealed.

As reported, on November 25, Russian border ships committed the acts of aggression against three Ukrainian ships heading from the port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol. The Russian special forces fired and seized three Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait and 24 sailors aboard.

On November 26, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a law approving the decree of the President of Ukraine on the imposition of the martial law for 30 days in 10 regions of Ukraine in connection with the aggression of Russia.

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