Thread: Nato calls for calm after boats seized in Russia-Ukraine clashes

Originally Posted by OhOh

So glad you found it useful.

Nobody has stopped "freedom of navigation" of Ukraine warships and tugs. The Ukraine ships were requested to stop. Prior to transiting the straight certain formalities need to be observed, similar to the last time Ukraine military ships traversed the straight.

From the treaty I found for you, the one you had been searching for, the one you found so helpful:



Such as:

Calling in the local Traffic Control station, similar to ships passing the Dover Straights, possible joining the queue of ships awaiting transit, similar to the Suez Canal and international airports where customers check-in, go through customs, then officials check documentation once, twice, three times and then await boarding the airplane.For ships, customs clearance, cargo examination for deadly diseased meat, fruit and vegetables, drugs, illegal arms, counterfeit hand bags, fake perfumes, currently a hot topic I hear.

You know, the normal things customs and excise officers do all around the world, everyday of the week.

Last time the Ukraine military went through the straights all was hunky dory, why you might ask not this time.

Because they wanted to jump the queue, they didn't have the right pieces of paper/authorisation/permits, they tried to buck the system. Now as we all know in some countries a blind eye is turned if a brown paper envelope is waived, possibly some newly promoted civil servant was sticking to the letter of the rules.

The Ukraine captains, their on board "political advisors", a Ukraine President - scared of losing his position where he can accumulate wealth was in jeopardy and hence decided to follow orders from afar to add some more shit to the pot.

An election he was going to lose, some whispers of, "We will stand bye you", from interested but not publicly committed, parties.

But Mr Jobsworth was having nothing like that on his/her watch.

Similar to somebody trying to enter a country, avoid HMRC/Mexico Border Control Officers. They were asked to stop and be searched, put their hands behind their head.

Once they refused, as in many civilised countries, they would all have been shot dead, normal SOP. Luckily the ships weren't blown out of the water, nobody launched the ICBMs.

All because they couldn't follow the agreed procedures. Pathetic. But it seems applauded by you.

Any more links you want just ask.

It's a lovely little fairy story, but it has nothing to do with "Freedom of Navigation".

All this is is Russia claiming international waters as its own - well why the fuck not, they stole Crimea, so why not steal the sea around it?