KYIV. Dec 3 (Interfax) - Members of the Public Observer Commission have visited 21 Ukrainian sailors who are in the detention facility Lefortovo, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova said.
"I have just received official information from Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova. She said that members of the Moscow Public Observer Commission had visited the 21 Ukrainian sailors, who are in the Lefortovo detention facility. They talked to each of them," Denisova said on Facebook.
The sailors' living conditions "meet the international standards and they have not made any complaints," she said, citing Moskalkova.
Besides, members of the Public Observer Commission have visited the three Ukrainian sailors who are kept in the medical unit of Matrosskaya Tishina, Denisova said. "Their treatment is going fine," she said.
Denisova said she intends to have talks with her Russian counterpart on December 3. "I intend to hold talks with Moskalkova tomorrow on giving me an opportunity to visit our sailors," Denisova said.
Russian border guards detained three Ukrainian naval vessels en route to the Sea of Azov in the Kerch Strait using weapons on November 25. Several Ukrainian sailors were injured. A criminal case has been opened in Russia based on Part 3 of Article 322 of the Russian Criminal Code (illegal crossing of the state border).
The Russian Federal Security Service said the Ukrainian naval ships had entered the territorial waters at the instruction of the Kyiv authorities and characterized the incident as a provocation. Besides, the Russian authorities said Kyiv had failed to notify Russia properly on the passage of Ukrainian naval vessels through the Kerch Strait. Twenty-four Ukrainian naval sailors were detained, and three of them were injured. The injured are receiving medical assistance. All detainees have been arrested.
Kyiv called the Russian border guards' actions illegitimate. The Ukrainian authorities believe Russia has breached the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Ukrainian-Russian treaty on cooperation on the use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.