Ukraine Shipping Traffic Resumes

Ukraine Shipping Traffic Resumes

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Shipping traffic has resumed to and from Ukraine's ports on the Sea of Azov following a standoff with Russia, a Ukrainian minister said Tuesday.

Commercial ships were moving through the Kerch Strait linking the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said.

Omelyan, who accused Russia last week of blocking Ukrainian cargo trying to pass through the strait, said Tuesday that the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol have been "partially unblocked" thanks to a "stern international response."

Russia, however, insisted that it never blocked vessels from sailing through the Kerch Strait and that any possible disruptions were linked to bad weather.

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The tug-of-war between the two neighbors over Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine has escalated further following a Nov. 25 incident in which the Russian coast guard fired upon and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels and 24 seamen on board.

Ukraine sent its vessels on a mission to sail from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov were operating in line with a 2003 treaty with Russia that allowed their ships free passage through the Kerch Strait. But Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, charged that the Ukrainian boats entered its territorial waters without permission.

The U.S. and its allies have condemned what they described as unjustified use of force by Russia and urged it to release the ships and their crews.

NATO foreign ministers are meeting with Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin on Tuesday and Wednesday as the country seeks international backing for its Black Sea standoff with Russia.

Speaking before the meeting, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia to release the Ukrainian sailors and ships and allow freedom of navigation and unhindered access to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko responded to the standoff by introducing martial law for 30 days, something Ukraine hadn't done even after Crimea's annexation and amid large-scale fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the east in 2014-2015.

As part of martial law, Ukraine has beefed up its forces on the border with Russia, called up reservists for training and barred entry to all Russian males aged between 16 and 60.

Some critics at home, including Poroshenko's main political rival, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, accused him of using the naval incident for political purposes before March's election. But Poroshenko has pledged that martial law wouldn't interfere with the vote.

The Kremlin has called the naval incident a provocation intended to shore up Poroshenko's sagging popularity.

The lower house of Russian parliament, the State Duma, approved a statement Tuesday accusing the Ukrainian president of a "reckless and cynical attempt to change the situation in his favor" and a "desire to cling to power at any cost even at the threat of a full-scale war."

(KA)

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