Russia-Ukraine naval clash

[yankeedoodle]

RT is reporting that Ukrainian naval ships entered Russian waters, resulting in a naval confrontation.  Is it a provocation, for the war that Israhell wants?  Is this the crisis distraction Donnie-boy needs, as he faces impeachment or resignation?

See RT reports below: 

3 Ukrainian navy ships violate Russian border near Crimea, ignore orders to leave – FSB
https://www.rt.com/news/444815-crimea-ukrainian-navy-territorial-waters/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Ukrainian vessels heading to Kerch Strait from Azov Sea on way to their port – FSB
https://www.rt.com/news/444852-ukraine-navy-ships-azov-kerch/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Russian ships used weapons to stop & seize Ukrainian vessels violating territorial waters – FSB
https://www.rt.com/news/444853-russia-ukraine-ships-conflict/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Russian vessel blocks Kerch strait after Ukrainian Navy ships violate border (VIDEO)
https://www.rt.com/news/444841-kerch-strait-blocked-russia-ukraine/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

WATCH Russian Coast Guard pursuing Ukrainian vessels violating territorial waters
https://www.rt.com/news/444851-video-russian-ukrainian-vessel-kerch/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Ukraine to declare martial law after sea clash with Russia
https://www.rt.com/news/444854-ukraine-martial-law-russia-ships/

[yankeedoodle]

Russia calls for urgent UN Security Council meeting over clash with Ukrainian ships in Azov sea – mi   
https://www.rt.com/news/444856-russia-calls-unsc-meeting-ukraine/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

[yankeedoodle]

Definitely a provocation.  Two incursions into Russian water, from different directions.

Around 07:00 Moscow Time (04:00 GMT) on Sunday two artillery boats and a tugboat belonging to the Ukrainian Navy crossed the Russian maritime border in the Black Sea and headed to the Kerch Strait. Vessels generally pass through the strait after receiving a proper permission and according to a schedule, but these ships had none, according to Russian Federal Security Service responsible for maintaining order at the border.

The Russian officers repeatedly asked the Ukrainian vessels to leave Russia's territorial sea and exclusive economic zone, but they ignored those requests.

"The vessels are undertaking dangerous maneuvers, and are not obeying lawful instructions from the Russian authorities," FSB said in a statement. The ships also entered waters that had been temporarily closed to navigation.

Around 11:30 Moscow time (08:30 GMT), two more Ukrainian vessels departed an Azov Sea port of Berdyansk and approached the Kerch Strait from the other side.

Tense standoff around Kerch Strait between Russia & Ukraine: How it developed
https://www.rt.com/news/444857-russia-ukraine-kerch-strait-standoff/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

[yankeedoodle]

Ukraine staged a "provocation" in the Kerch Strait to create a diplomatic row that would lead to sanctions against Moscow being tightened, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said, adding that the timing was notable.

Black Sea standoff: Kiev's 'provocation' aimed at intl scandal & new Russian sanctions – Moscow
https://www.rt.com/news/444878-ukraine-kerch-strait-provocation/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome     

Moscow has protested Kiev's "planned" breach of Russian waters in the Kerch Strait and cautioned Ukraine's foreign backers against blowing the incident out of proportion. Russia will "strongly" respond to similar "provocations."

Three Ukrainian military boats on Sunday tried to pass through the Kerch Strait apparently without prior warning, but were ordered to stop by Russian border guards. A confrontation ensued, ending with the three ships being seized by the Russian side.

Moscow warns Kiev of 'consequences' for attempts to provoke conflict after Kerch Strait standoff
https://www.rt.com/news/444886-moscow-warning-kerch-strait-provocation/   

EU's Tusk: Europe will stay united in support of Ukraine
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-tusk-idUSKCN1NV1D9

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk on Monday condemned Russia's seizure of Ukrainian navy vessels in the Kerch Strait.

"I condemn Russian use of force in the Azov Sea. Russian authorities must return Ukrainian sailors, vessels and refrain from further provocations," Tusk said after a phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

"Europe will stay united in support of Ukraine."

[yankeedoodle]

"Crisis" building, as UK and US media begin to spread news of the "tension." 

Tension escalates after Russia seizes Ukraine naval ships
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46338671

Ukraine Considers Martial Law After Russia Seizes Its Ships Near Crimea
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/26/670746252/ukraine-considers-martial-law-after-russia-seizes-its-ships-near-crimea

[yankeedoodle]

This didn't take long, did it?  Wonder why something that happens out at sea prompts martial law on land, and, why it seemed necessary almost immediately.  Hmm...

Ukrainian President Poroshenko signs decree on martial law
https://www.rt.com/news/444891-poroshenko-signs-martial-law-decree/

[yankeedoodle]

RT is reporting that Ukrainian naval ships entered Russian waters, resulting in a naval confrontation.  Is it a provocation, for the war that Israhell wants?  Is this the crisis distraction Donnie-boy needs, as he faces impeachment or resignation?

According to Dershowitz, Donnie-boy knows he faces devastation, so, better go create devastation somewhere else, as a distraction.  Why not let the Ukrainian's do it? 
http://theinfounderground.com/smf/index.php?topic=24511.msg89110;topicseen#new

[rmstock]

http://halturnerradioshow.com/ is keeping close watch on this.

[yankeedoodle]

Here we go. "Illegally."  What's that? 

Atlantic Council fellow says US should send ships to Azov sea (illegally) after Kerch standoff
https://www.rt.com/news/444922-anders-aslund-azov-sea/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

A senior fellow at the pro-NATO Atlantic Council has said the US should send naval ships into the Sea of Azov to guarantee it stays open after a skirmish between Russian and Ukrainian ships. Only problem is, that would be illegal.

Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist who lives in Washington D.C. and works for the avidly anti-Russia think tank, implored the US and NATO to "react sharply" to what he called "the illegal Russian blockade of the international Sea of Azov."

Aslund's suggestion came after Russia opened fire on and seized three Ukrainian navy boats on Sunday, accusing them of breaching the Russian maritime border.

The Ukranian vessels were sailing between two Ukrainian ports: from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The only waterway that connects these is the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia. Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the area. Moscow denies that it was given warning.

While both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. All traffic in the area is controlled by the Crimean sea port of Kerch, and every ship should contact the facility, report her route and destination, and receive permission to sail through the Strait.

Unfortunately for the Swedish economist, though he tweets with all the authority of someone who was on the ships in question himself, it seems he is lacking in this basic knowledge about the legality of his proposal.

Luckily, chief foreign affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Yaroslav Trofimov, stepped in to help out, tweeting that aside from the "practical risks" which might arise from US ships rushing into the kerfuffle, it would also be "illegal without Russian permission."

Trofimov cited the 2003 treaty between Russia and Ukraine which declared the Azov Sea to be "internal waters" and which only guarantees freedom of navigation for Russian and Ukrainian military vessels.

Aslund, who frequently raises eyebrows among more knowledgeable Russia experts and is known for his dramatic hot takes on Twitter, also compared the incident to Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland — so the complexities of reality are unlikely to deter him.

He also claimed that a quiet response to the incident from US officials meant that President Donald Trump must have "strictly ordered" US officials not to speak about it.

The Atlantic Council fellow also found himself in a heated spat with multiple Moscow-based journalists and correspondents last week after he scolded a Washington Post reporter for daring to write an article suggesting that some Ukrainians harbored positive feelings toward Vladimir Lenin.

Journalists from the Washington Post, Financial Times and the Guardian were unimpressed that Aslund appeared to be implying that Moscow-based journalists are unable to write authoritatively about Ukraine and that they should refrain from criticizing the country, lest it offend him or his group of friends.

Russian journalist Alexey Kovalev also waded into the debate to remind Aslund that debate around post-Soviet identity in Ukraine is alive and well, regardless of how he personally feels.

Since the Kerch Strait incident, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has imposed martial law in the country — a move which could allow him to call off scheduled elections and remain in power. Moscow has accused Kiev of provoking the entire incident to win sympathies in the West and to help Poroshenko remain in office.

[yankeedoodle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucni4znC1IU

[yankeedoodle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGkBgGXiK0c

[yankeedoodle]

Ukraine president asks NATO to send ships
https://www.france24.com/en/20181129-ukraine-president-asks-nato-send-ships

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked NATO members including Germany Thursday to send naval vessels to the Sea of Azov to back his country in the standoff with Russia.
"Germany is one of our closest allies, and we hope that states within NATO are now ready to relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security," he told Germany's Bild daily.

President Vladimir Putin insisted Wednesday that Russian forces were right to seize three Ukrainian ships last weekend.

But Poroshenko charged that Putin "wants nothing less than to occupy the sea. The only language he understands is the unity of the Western world.

"We cannot accept this aggressive policy of Russia. First it was Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, now he wants the Sea of Azov.

"Germany, too, has to ask itself: What will Putin do next if we do not stop him?" he added on the day Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman was to visit Berlin.

Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships on Sunday, accusing them of illegally entering its waters in the Sea of Azov, in a dramatic spike in tensions that raises fears of a wider escalation.

Kiev accused Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, of launching "a new phase of aggression".

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday demanded Russia free the Ukrainian ships and sailors, warning Moscow that "its actions have consequences".

Poroshenko also told the German newspaper that German "Chancellor (Angela) Merkel is a great friend of Ukraine.

"In 2015, she already saved our country through her negotiations in Minsk, and we hope she will once again support us so strongly, together with our other allies.

"Putin wants to bring back the old Russian Empire. Crimea, Donbas, he wants the whole country," he added.

"As a Russian emperor, as he sees himself, his empire cannot function without Ukraine, he sees us as a colony."