Volker: Kremlin uses Ukrainian sailors to influence parliamentary elections

"I believe that president Putin and Russia use sailors and expedited Russian citizenship in order to exert pressure on Zelensky and harm his election prospects," US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker said in an interview with the Voice of America.

At the same time, he expressed confidence that this scenario would not work.

“Ukrainians have their own opinion regarding their choice. They also understand that such pressure from Russia will not defeat Ukraine,” Volker emphasized.

He stressed that the detention of sailors had been illegal from the very beginning and they should be released immediately.

"They were attacked in the international waters and captured illegally. They must be returned to their families as soon as possible," the US Special Representative emphasized.

As reported, on July 17, the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow extended the arrest of all captured Ukrainian sailors for another three months. The court hearing was held behind the closed doors.

On November 25, 2018, Russian border guards fired on and seized three Ukrainian Navy ships, the Berdyansk, the Nikopol, and the Yani Kapu, heading from Odesa to Mariupol, near the Kerch Strait. In addition, their crewmembers, 24 Ukrainian sailors, were captured. Three of them were wounded.

A Russian-controlled court in the occupied Crimea arrested all the detained Ukrainian sailors on charges of alleged illegal border crossing. They are held in a remand prison in Moscow now.

On May 25, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered Russia to immediately release three Ukrainian naval vessels and 24 captured sailors.

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