In August 28 2018 the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in ARC Borys Babin, the Chief Consultant of the Department of International Connections Taisia Tkachenko and the monitoring officers of Kherson team of SMM OSCE in Ukraine Peter Chilvers and Irene Ballesteros discussed the media response created by the detention of the Russian tanker “Mekhanic Pogodin”, particularly in the context of the recent visit of the monitoring officers to the Kherson Trade Sea Port, where the vessel is blocked now.
The Permanent Representative and the OSCE monitoring officers discussed the fact of usage the information about their visit under the OSCE mandate to the trade seaport by Russian propaganda to begin the media war by spreading false information on the status of the vessel flying the RF flag which is inland waters of Ukraine.
Within the context of the matter Borys Babin said that the tanker “Mekhanik Pogodin” stayed in the inland waters of Ukraine where it had entered voluntarily. This vessel is not a military ship or a special state ship of Russia. Therefore, any messages about this trade vessel in Kherson trade seaport as about so-called “territory of Russian Federation” are the cheap manipulation of Russian propaganda and of the special services of the state-aggressor.
During the discussion Borys Babin highlighted the basic rules of International Maritime and Humanitarian Law, the rules of national legislation used to block this Russian tanker. He draw attention to the political, legislative and organizational background of the governmental authorities of Ukraine activity caused by the Russian aggression and illegal activity of the state-aggressor against the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Besides, the terms and practical reasons of blocking the vessel, the rights of crewmembers, staying in the vessel and the cargo situation were discussed.
Once again, the discussion concerned the violation of the rules of International Law by Russia concerning the detention of Ukrainian fishing vessel ЯМК-0041, engaging in fishery in the Black Sea. The political background of five crewmembers’ illegal detention as the hostages in the temporarily occupied Crimea by the Russian punishing bodies was stressed. The situation with the crewmembers of the detained Ukrainian vessel “Nord” – citizens of Ukraine being held in the territory of the RF Embassy was mentioned in the context of undisguised treatment of these persons like the detainers by the RF authorities in order to realize their own political demands and thus committing an act of state terrorism contrary to the fundamental principles of International law was emphasized.