EU once again demands that Russia release Ukrainian sailors

EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer said this during a meeting with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko in Moscow on January 30, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

“EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer expressed an official demarche on behalf of 28 member states of the EU to Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko. The ambassador reiterated the EU’s well-known position regarding the continued illegal detention of Ukrainian sailors by Russia,” the EU spokesperson said.

As reported, on November 25, 2018, Russian border ships fired on and seized in the Kerch Strait three Ukrainian naval vessels that were moving from Odesa to Mariupol. Twenty-four Ukrainian sailors were captured.

The sailors were detained for two months. They were charged with illegally crossing Russia's border in the Black Sea. On November 29, Ukrainians were taken to a detention center in Moscow.

On January 16, Moscow's Lefortovo District Court extended the arrest of all 24 seamen until April 24 and 26, 2019.

All captured sailors called themselves prisoners of war.