MOSCOW. Feb 19 (Interfax) - Three of the Ukrainian sailors, who were held while crossing the Russian border in Kerch Strait illegally, have been sent for thorough medical examination to two health institutions in Moscow.
"The administration of the [Lefortovo] pre-trial detention facility and FSB [Federal Security Service] investigators held, as promised, preliminary talks with the Moscow City Health Department, and today sent Andriy Artemyev for a deeper examination at a civilian health facility, City Hospital N1," the Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova's press service told Interfax on Tuesday.
The other two, Andriy Eider and Vasil Soroka, who are held at the same jail, will be examined at City Hospital N1 and City Polyclinic N4 on February 21, the press service said.
"The places of medical examination were chosen because they have the necessary highly-qualified specialists and equipment for diagnostics. Should the examination reveal the need for deeper medical treatment, this will be provided in due course," the press service said
It was reported that Moskalkova had visited the sailors at Lefortovo and discussed their additional medical examination at Moscow's civilian hospitals with the jail administration. Kyiv, too, has insisted on additional medical examination and treatment for the sailors.
On November 25, 2018, Russian border guards used weapons to stop three Ukrainian naval vessels, the Yany Kapu tug and the Berdyansk and the Nikopol armored gunboats, which were traveling from Odesa to Mariupol in the Kerch Strait. The vessels were escorted to Kerch.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) said the ships entered Russia's territorial waters on orders from Kyiv and described the incident as an act of provocation coordinated by two Ukrainian Security Service officers. Russia also said that Kyiv did not duly notify it that naval vessels were planning to pass through the Kerch Strait.
Kyiv called the border guards' actions unlawful and accused Moscow of violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and a treaty between Ukraine and Russia on cooperation in using the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.
Courts in Simferopol and Kerch remanded the 22 sailors and two Ukrainian Security Service officials in custody. In late November they were transferred to Moscow.
The Ukrainians are charged with "conspiracy by a group of persons or an organized group to illegally cross the border using violence or the threat to use violence." If found guilty, they could face up to six years in prison.
Kyiv calls the detained sailors prisoners of war. The Russian authorities say they cannot be regarded as POWs, as they are charged with a crime and Russia and Ukraine are not in a state of war or military conflict.