UKRAINIAN SERVICEMEN CONFIRM THEY PROVOKED BLACK SEA INCIDENT

DETAINED UKRAINIAN SERVICEMEN CONFIRM THEY PROVOKED BLACK SEA INCIDENT WITH RUSSIA UPON ORDER FROM THEIR COMMAND

South Front,

26 November, 2018

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on November 26 that it has questioned Ukrainian servicemen who were detained following the maritime incident in the Kerch Strait.

The FSB released a video footage of the questioning session with:

• 3rd Rank Captain Vladimir Lesovoy, commander of a support vessels division of the Ukrainian South naval base (army unit A-1728);
• Andrei Drach, according to Russian officials, officer of the 7th main military intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian Security Service who had been onboard the Nikolpol boat;
• Sergei Tsybizov, a sailor from the Nikopol.

The Ukrainian servicemen confirmed that they were action upon a direct order from their command and the November 25 maritime incident was a pre-planned provocation.

“Radio requests [from Russian border guards] were deliberately ignored. There were firearms and machine guns with munitions onboard. I was aware that these were provocative actions,” Lesovoy stated adding that the formal goal was to reach Mariupol [the Sea of Azov] from Odessa [the Black Sea] through Kerch Strait.

The Urainian intelligence officer, Drach, confirmed that the Russian side was working to prevent an armed clash in the area.

“We entered Russia’s territorial waters where the Russian coastal guards warned us that we were violating Russia’s laws. They told us to leave the Russian territorial waters,” he said.

However, the Ukrainian naval group was ignoring the warnings.

“We continued to move. We were contacted by Russian ships which warned us they would open fire if we did not stop, The commander stopped the boat, and we were detained. That’s all,” Tsybizov said.

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The FSB further revealed that there were two Ukrainian intelligence officers were coordinating the provocation on board of the shi

“The Ukrainian warships entered Russia’s territorial waters at a direct order from the Kiev authorities. The warships trespassed into the Russian territorial water that had enjoyed this status even before Crimea’s reunification with Russia. The provocation was coordinated by two Ukrainian Security Service officers who were aboard the Ukrainian ships,” the FSB said in a statement.