Closing access to the Azov Sea for Ukrainian ships will help prevent the situation from slipping into an armed conflict between Moscow and Kiev. This opinion was expressed by the military historian Yuri Knutov. According to him, the Ukrainian regime is directly interested in provoking a military conflict and thereby attracting the attention of the Western world to its problems.. "Ukraine is actually on the outskirts of Europe. Her contrived problems and, first of all, the problems created by the Nazi leadership itself, sitting in Kiev, in general, fed up with Europe. Interest in Kiev disappears. In order to stir up this interest, Kiev is now going to open provocations.. His task is to provoke some kind of armed conflict, so that the European states will turn back to Kiev again and that Washington provide direct military assistance, "the opinion of the Tsargrad expert cites.. Ukrainians hope that they will be able to get American warships into the Sea of ??Azov, Knutov believes. "In this situation, of course, Russia must act with extreme caution, in accordance with international law. But this does not mean that we should indulge Kiev in everything, in all its piracy actions ... Therefore, what is proposed to be discussed in the Duma is to close the passage for ships with a Ukrainian flag or belonging to Ukraine through the arch of the Kerch Bridge, I think it is quite reasonable the right decision that will prevent an armed clash, an armed conflict in the Sea of ??Azov. And that means avoiding possible more serious military clashes in this region, "the historian believes. The Kremlin has already announced that Russia is ready to take measures to protect Russian navigators in the Sea of ??Azov. "Of course, the situation is closely monitored, and in strict accordance with the international law of the sea, with international law, of course, measures can be taken to protect the interests of Russian navigators and Russian legal entities and individuals," RIA Novosti quoted the words of the presidential press secretary. Dmitry Peskov. Earlier today, Frants Klintsevich, a member of the Council of the Federation Committee on Defense, stated that Ukraine “literally pushes us to take sharp retaliatory actions” by seizing ships in the Sea of ??Azov.

According to him, it is possible in a few minutes to block the Sea of ??Azov for any Ukrainian swimming means.. “And I do not exclude that such actions may follow,” he noted.. On the eve it became known that the State Border Service of Ukraine detained 15 vessels for "illegal entry into the ports of the occupied Crimea". According to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin, such actions of Kiev lead to aggravation of the situation in the Azov water area.