MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - Russia was ready to allow the Ukrainian ships to pass through the Kerch Strait if the Ukrainian side had given advance notice to Russia, the newspaper Vedomosti said, citing a source close to the Russian Defense Ministry.
"The Russian side was ready, as it already happened on September 23, to allow the Ukrainian ships' passage if they had duly submitted notice 48 hours in advance, had taken a Russian navigation pilot aboard and had not violated territorial waters," the newspaper's source said.
"It was necessary to receive the port authorities' permission to pass through the Kerch Strait way back when Crimea belonged to Ukraine," he said.