In April, 23 the Chief Consultant of the Departments of International Connections of the Mission took part in the in the meeting about shipping to the closed seaports of Ukraine in the Crimea, and sanctions measures related to the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Yury Lavrenyuk.

The participants of the event were representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Border Service, and other authorized bodies. The participants discussed the issues of shipping to the closed Ukrainian seaports in the Crimea, overlapping of the Kerch Strait in connection with the construction of the Kerch bridge and the forced interaction of vessels following to/from the Ukrainian ports of the Azov regions with the occupation administration in the Kerch Commercial Sea Port. It was noted the necessity in strengthen interaction between all authorized agencies.

As a result of the meeting, it was decided to address the Nacional Security and Defence Council on the prohibition for the entry of  vessels, flying the Russian flag into Ukraine’s inland waterways for a high level of terrorist threats.