Ukraine has deployed troops near the Sea of Azov “in response to Russian aggression,” a top Ukrainian army commander has said following months of tit-for-tat arrests of merchant ships.
Although both countries enjoy free use of the Sea of Azov under a 2003 agreement, tensions heightened after Ukraine’s coast guard detained a Russian fishing boat in March and Russia opened a bridge to the annexed Crimea peninsula in May. Since then, Russia has reportedly seized or suspended at least 148 Ukrainian and foreign merchant ships while Ukraine has imposed sanctions on hundreds of Russian individuals and companies.
