BERLIN. Nov 27 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko says he believes the incident in the Kerch Strait will not have any military aftereffects.
"It goes without saying that this won't have any military significance, because the incident is absolutely over from the military standpoint. And it seems to me that in the end, reason should prevail. At least, isolated glimpses of such reason are present even in the ideologically loaded statements we're getting from Western leaders, who are calling on both sides to show restraint," Grushko told journalists on the sidelines of the Congress on European Security and Defense in Berlin on Tuesday.
Western politicians' calls for restraint show that they believe the blame for the incident rests both with Russia and Ukraine, Grushko said. "This is kind of acknowledgement through clenched teeth that the blame rests with the Ukrainian side, as well, even from their standpoint," he said.
For Russia, "the situation is absolutely clear from both the legal and military standpoints," he said.
"If memory serves me right, three naval vessels safely passed to Berdyansk on September 23 and were provided with pilot services, and a request for passage had been submitted via the relevant channels. Therefore, the mechanisms for normal navigation in this region, including military navigation, do exist. There is a right of peaceful passage through our territorial waters, and we respect it. But we also hold that the Russian Federation's border and sovereignty should be respected, as well," Grushko said.
Under a Russian-Ukrainian agreement, the Kerch Strait is part of both Russia's and Ukraine's internal waters, but there are "strict procedures for passing through the Kerch Strait, as the situation there is very complicated," he said.
"This situation requires pilot services, it requires a certain passage procedure in the form of mini-caravans, all these things work," Grushko said.