Russia will restrict the sailing of foreign military and official ships in parts of the Black Sea until October, a Russian news agency reported on Friday, in a move that is likely to further exacerbate tensions with Ukraine and its western allies.
Tensions between Moscow and Kyiv have escalated in recent weeks following an uptick in fighting between Ukraine's army and pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia has massed its troops along Ukraine's northern and eastern borders and on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. This week Russia also conducted navy drills in the Black Sea.
According to the bulletin of the Department of Navigation and Oceanography of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, published on April 14, the Black Sea areas planned to be closed by October 31.
"From 9 p.m. on April 24 until 9 p.m. on October 31, passage through the territorial sea of the Russian Federation for foreign military ships and other state vessels will be halted," the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited a defense ministry statement as saying.
The restrictions will affect the western tip of Crimea, the peninsula's southern coastline from Sevastopol to Hurzuf, and a "rectangle" off the Kerch peninsula near the Opuksky Nature Reserve.
The final area is near the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov and is of crucial importance for the export of grain and steel from Ukraine. The Kerch Strait became a scene of confrontation in 2018 after Russia seized three Ukrainian ships there over alleged violations of its territorial waters.
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