No negotiations with Russia until it releases detained Ukrainian sailors – Volker
“We call on Russia immediately to release the sailors and to try to come back to a diplomatic track for resolving this crisis,” the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States said on its Facebook page, citing a statement by Volker at the U.S. European Media Hub in Brussels.
Volker said that the United States would not move forward in negotiations with Russia until the Russian authorities released the Ukrainian sailors.
He also added that the USA was familiar with the evidence of Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian vessels. “We know from imagery, we know from video on YouTube, we know from what the Ukrainians have reported what happened in terms of the blockage of the strait, the pursuit of the Ukrainian vessels in international waters, firing upon them, and those sailors still being held by Russia," he said.
In addition, Volker warned the Kremlin that the U.S. was considering the possibility of increasing sanctions against Russia over its actions in the Kerch Strait. “I can say that both the United States and Europe are looking at what additional measures we should be taking if Russia fails to return the sailors and continues to make these assertions of control of the Kerch Strait as it is," he 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. Attorneys will file appeals on all Ukrainians.
All captured sailors called themselves prisoners of war.