Ukrainian poachers tried to ram their vessel into Russian border guards’ motorboat in Sea of Azov – source

“The incident happened in neutral waters of the Sea of Azov as border guards chased poachers’ vessel. Suddenly, the vessel turned back and tried to ram into the border guards’ motorboat, but it broke apart after the collision. The preliminary information available indicates that two poachers died and another one was hospitalized with injuries. A search for two more people continues,” he said.

According to the Black Sea and Azov department of Russia’s coast guard service, the Ukrainian boat was in Russian waters when Russian ship Mangust spotted it.

“After fruitless attempts to contact the offenders, the commander of the border guard boat ordered approaching the vessel to an acceptable distance and examining it. However, the boat dashed off and made for the Ukrainian coast,” the department said in a statement.

Mangust went after the Ukrainians, shouting and firing flares.

“In trying to break away from the Russian guards, the offender vessel undertook a dangerous maneuver – it sharply turned toward its pursuers, violating international sea collision warning rules. As a result, the boat hit one of the sides of the border guard boat and capsized,” the statement said.

Two members of the Ukrainian boat’s crew have been found dead and two others are still missing. One crewmember was rescued.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has handed a note to Andrei Vorobyov demanding, according to a ministry statement, “a comprehensive and objective investigation of the incident involving Ukrainian and Russian authorities, and measures to prevent similar situations in the future.”

The Ukrainian ministry accused the Russian guards of using “disproportionate measures” while the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service suggested that Ukrainian and Russian border guards hold a meeting on the site of the incident.

In a phone call with Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Ruslan Demchenko on Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin expressed “condolences in connection with the human fatalities and offered wishes of the earliest possible recovery to the Ukrainian citizen who has been saved,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website.