BUENOS AIRES. Dec 3 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, when asked about the return of detained military ships and sailors to Ukraine, has recalled Russian fishermen whom the Ukrainian side captured without any reason in the Sea of Azov.
"As to the return of the ships and sailors, let's recall the fishermen who were captured in the Sea of Azov without any reason, with no reason at all," Putin said at a press conference in Buenos Aires.
The treaty of 2003 provides that there is just a five-kilometer zone of territorial waters in the Sea of Azov and the rest of the sea is considered as common, including for economic use, he said.
"The fishermen were not even in the five-kilometer zone. They were taken, captured, and the captain is still kept there without any reason. This is just lawlessness," Putin said.
Speaking about the detention of the Ukrainian ships and sailors in the Black Sea, Putin said, "They staged a clear provocation. We let their ships, including military ones, pass. On September 11, a similar convoy of Ukrainian military ships came, they said they wanted to go to the Kerch Strait, a pilot was given to them and they passed. That is all, they calmly went to Mariupol and Berdiansk."
Speaking about the detention of Ukrainian Navy ships on November 25, Putin said that "they staged provocation instead of doing the same [as on September 11]."
"Even after they made violation, entered our territorial waters, border guards told them: if you go to Kerch, take a pilot. No we will not go there. But still they went there," Putin said.
Then "our border guards started to oust the Ukrainian ships just because they headed to Kerch, although they many times said publicly that "they are going to blow up the bridge."
"What should have our border guards done? They were forced to act accordingly. [Ukrainian ships] did not obey the border guards [orders] and started to run away to the neutral waters. The border guards acted in line with orders and regulations. This is how border forces of any state would act if its state border is blatantly violated," Putin said.