As the captain of the detained ship Vladimir Gorbin said, the Ukrainian border service officers offered the crew barter: the sailors recognize themselves as citizens of Nezalezhnaya, and the border guards let them go. "It was said that if we recognize ourselves as citizens of Ukraine, then the question will be quickly resolved and we will be released. Refusal of Russian citizenship at the same time did not ask to write, "Gorbin said in an interview with RT. According to him, they were offered to ask their relatives to bring Ukrainian passports from home. However, none of the crew members agreed to the offer. Gorbin added that the border service explained the detention of the vessel by the law "On Temporarily Occupied Territories", which does not recognize the documents received in the Crimea after its accession to Russia in March 2014. Including invalid are considered and ship documents. "Just did not order the Russian flag to be lowered - it is still raised," the captain said, adding that the consul of the Russian Federation is not allowed to go to the sailors because the crew members are not considered by the Russian authorities as Russian. It should be noted that the Russian authorities already intend to take concrete measures in connection with the situation around the "Nord". Thus, the command of the Black Sea Fleet was concerned about the safety of Russian ships in the waters of the Azov Sea and in the northeastern part of the Black Sea.

According to the source of RIA Novosti in the Crimean law enforcement agencies, the Black Sea Fleet is concerned about the aggressiveness of the Ukrainian border service and the threat of "state piracy" from the Nezalezhnaya. "The aggressive actions of Ukrainian maritime border guards in international waters represent not only the risk of seizure of Russian vessels, but also the formation of real state piracy," he said.. Recall, the Russian fishing vessel "Nord", owned by the Crimean fishing collective farm, was detained by Ukrainian border guards on March 26.

The ship's crew was accused of violating maritime boundaries.