SIMFEROPOL. Nov 27 (Interfax) - Simferopol's Kyivsky District Court has remanded in custody Ukrainian sailor Yuriy Budzylo, 46, who served on one of the Ukrainian Navy ships detained in the Kerch Strait, until January 25, 2019.
"The motion for remand in custody shall be upheld. [...] A measure of restraint, arrest until January 25, 2019, shall be imposed," Court Chairman Andrei Dolgopolov said.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) initiated a criminal case against Budzylo over "illegally crossing the border by a group of individuals acting in collusion, or by an organized group, or with the use of or the threat to use violence." The FSB argued that he could flee, threaten witnesses, or interfere with the proceedings.
An investigator requested that Budzylo be arrested for the entire period of the preliminary investigation.
The sailor's lawyer, Aider Azamatov, requested that a non-custodial measure of restraint be imposed.
"I request that another measure of restraint, restrictions on travel [outside Crimea], be imposed. His documents have been seized," the lawyer said.
Budzylo said he would not flee. He also told the court that he has diabetes.
Budzylo previously served in Crimea.
Russian border guards used weapons to stop three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Kerch Strait area on November 25. The vessels in question - the tug Yany Kapu and the armored gunboats Berdyansk and Nikopol - were on their way from Odesa through the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to Mariupol. Twenty-four Ukrainians were detained, three of whom were wounded. The Ukrainian vessels were escorted to Kerch. Each side has accused the other of an act of provocation.