WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 - The U.S. State Department on Thursday called on Russia to cease what it called “harassment of international shipping” in the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait, accusing Moscow of trying to destabilize Ukraine, Reuters reported.
“Russia’s actions to impede maritime transit are further examples of its ongoing campaign to undermine and destabilize Ukraine, as well as its disregard for international norms,” he department’s spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
Russia had prevented at least 16 commercial ships from reaching Ukrainian ports in recent weeks, Nauert said.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said more than 150 vessels heading for Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov have been detained over the past several months.
The development underscore rising tensions in the Sea of Azov as Ukraine has been apparently lacking resources to protect its maritime space.
Valeriy Chaly, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S., recently said that Ukraine seeks to acquire an air defense system from the U.S. to protect its maritime space and airspace.
Ukraine will probably need three batteries of the system that may be worth up to $2.25 billion, but the talks are still underway, according to Chaly.
The deal was discussed earlier this year between President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. President Donald Trump, and most recently with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton during his trip to Kyiv.
The US in March formally approved the sale of Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine that includes 210 missiles and 37 launchers by contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin at a price of around $47 million.
Ukraine’s state-run defense firm Ukroboronprom recently announced a successful test of a new cruise missile, dubbed Neptun, in August.
The Neptun, a subsonic anti-ship cruise missile, was developed by the Ukrainian state design bureau Luch in Kyiv. Its reported range is between 280 and 300 kilometers.
Washington had been cautious in the past about escalating the conflict by providing advanced "lethal" weaponry to Kyiv due to the risk of heightening tensions with Moscow.
But in December 2017 the US announced it would provide Ukraine with "enhanced defensive capabilities" as the war in the east drags on, having claimed more than 10,000 lives since 2014. (tl/ez)
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