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Ukraine's Azov ports and the aftermath of Kerch
Summary
A look back at 4 December 2018, as the fallout from the Kerch Strait incident shaped diplomacy, shipping and border policy.
What was the state of play on 4 December 2018, little more than a week after Russian forces fired upon and seized Ukrainian naval vessels? The answer lay in the events of the preceding days, which had turned a maritime clash into a wider diplomatic and economic confrontation.
The incident itself took place on 25 November 2018 in the Kerch Strait. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels that were trying to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov on their way to the port of Mariupol. Later accounts described it as the first time Russian forces had openly engaged Ukrainian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Ports under pressure
By 29 November, Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said the ports of Berdiansk and Mariupol were effectively under blockade, because Russia was refusing to let any Ukrainian vessels enter or leave the Sea of Azov. On the same day, President Petro Poroshenko called on NATO to send warships to patrol the sea.
A summit meeting called off
The dispute also reached the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. On 29 November, as reported at the time, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had cancelled a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said it was not a good time, since Russia had not returned the ships and sailors to Ukraine. The decision came after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said the meeting was still on, and less than an hour after Trump had said he would probably meet Putin.
Border restrictions under martial law
On 30 November, Ukraine banned Russian men aged between 16 and 60 from entering the country, following the imposition of martial law. Poroshenko said the ban was meant to prevent the formation of "private armies" in Ukraine. Russia said it did not plan to retaliate.
Tension beyond Ukraine
Military friction was also visible elsewhere in Europe. On 29 November, the Belgian Air Component said on Twitter that on the previous day its F-16s, operating in the Baltic region on NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission, had intercepted Russian Flanker jets, allegedly because they had no flight plan.
Taken together, these reports show how the Kerch Strait incident fed into several areas at once: access to Ukraine's Azov ports, a cancelled meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents, and new limits on entry to Ukraine. As of 4 December 2018, the ships and sailors that Trump had cited were still a point of dispute.
