20210416：俄羅斯關閉國際海峽 the Kerch Strait

【縛雞之見】

The Russian government announced a “restriction” or “closing” over the Kerch Strait for half a year due to planned military exercises.  No foreign governmental vessels especially military ships are allowed to sail through.
The Russian navy defeated the Ottoman Empire's navy fleet off the coast of the Kerch Strait in 1790.  However, The Strait is the only channel connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, which makes it an international Strait under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea.
Formally speaking, it is not a “blockade,” which implied war between Russia and Ukraine, besides some other legal consequences under the laws of war. 
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek "closed" ports of China in the 1950s.  Also, U.S. President John Kennedy did a similar thing.  Instead of using the term "blockade," Kennedy invented a new term of “quarantine” in the Cuba crisis in 1962.

俄羅斯政府宣佈，由於計畫中的軍事演習，對刻赤海峽進行為期半年的「限制」或「關閉」。任何外國政府船隻特別是軍艦都不得駛過。
1790年，俄國海軍在刻赤海峽沿岸擊敗了奧斯曼帝國的海軍艦隊。 然而，刻赤海峽是連接黑海和亞速海的唯一通道，這使得它成為《聯合國海洋法公約》規定的國際海峽。
從形式上看，這不是「封鎖」，除了戰爭法規定的一些其他法律後果外，還意味著俄烏之間的戰爭。
上世紀50年代，蔣介石總司令「關閉」了中國的港口。另外，美國總統約翰甘迺迪也做過類似的事情。在1962年的古巴危機中，甘迺迪沒有使用「封鎖」，而是發明了一個新詞「檢疫」。（中文由DeepL翻譯，Taioceacy修正）

俄擬局部封鎖黑海 北約美國炮轟      中時 20210418

烏東緊張局勢升高之際，俄羅斯聯邦安全局16日拘捕一名烏克蘭外交官，指控他向俄羅斯公民取得敏感情資。俄羅斯最近在烏克蘭邊界集結大軍，還打算局部封鎖黑海，自4月24日到10月31日暫時中止外國船艦通行，此舉遭到烏克蘭與歐洲聯盟同聲譴責。北大西洋公約組織也炮轟「完全沒有道理」，呼籲俄國「允許航行自由」。

美國國防部發言人柯比說，俄羅斯以準備軍演為由，計畫封鎖黑海直到10月，不過「俄羅斯有挑釁烏克蘭船艦的前科，而且在黑海妨礙海上交通，尤其是在克赤海峽附近」。他表示，（封鎖黑海）就是俄羅斯持續破壞烏克蘭的穩定最新例證。

北約祕書長史托騰柏格的發言人也說，俄羅斯在克裡米亞半島、黑海和亞速海不斷採取軍事化行動，不只威脅烏克蘭的獨立，也破壞區域穩定，呼籲俄羅斯立即緩和局勢，停止挑釁，並遵守國際承諾。

俄羅斯聯邦安全局（FSB）16日拘捕烏克蘭駐聖彼得堡總領館領事索索紐克。俄國當局指控他當天與一名俄羅斯公民會面，獲取FSB和執法部門的機密訊息。FSB表示，索索紐克的活動不符合外交人員地位，對俄羅斯有明顯敵意，將按國際法對他採取行動。

烏克蘭外交部發言人證實，俄羅斯拘留索索紐克長達數小時，烏克蘭考慮作出回應。

烏克蘭總統澤倫斯基16日在巴黎會晤法國總統馬克洪，並與德國總理梅克爾舉行三方視訊會議，討論烏東局勢。

澤倫斯基表示，希望能重啟「諾曼第模式」四國（俄羅斯、烏克蘭、法國、德國）峰會，讓烏東緊張局勢下周就能降溫。他也希望法國支持烏國加入北約，但馬克洪沒有就此問題作出承諾。

 

Russia to close parts of Black Sea near Crimea for six months    ALJAZEERA 20210417

Ukraine and the EU condemn Russia’s decision to restrict the navigation of foreign military and official ships.

Russia will restrict the navigation of foreign military and official ships in parts of the Black Sea until October, according to a Russian news agency, prompting swift condemnation by Ukraine and the European Union.

The announcement on Friday comes amid tensions between Moscow and Kyiv that have escalated in recent weeks after an uptick in fighting between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has massed its troops along Ukraine’s northern and eastern borders and on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.  This week Russia also conducted navy drills in the Black Sea.

“From 21:00 on April 24 until 21:00 on October 31, passage through the territorial sea of the Russian Federation for foreign military ships and other state vessels will be halted,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited a defence ministry statement as saying on Friday.

The restrictions will affect the western tip of Crimea, the peninsula’s southern coastline from Sevastopol to Hurzuf, and a “rectangle” off the Kerch peninsula near the Opuksky Nature Reserve.

A senior EU official described the move as a “highly worrying development”.

The move contradicts norms of free maritime passage and international law and adds to tensions around “the military buildup on the other side of the Russian border with Ukraine”, the official told the AFP news agency.

Rising tensions

The official said that the restrictions would increase tensions as Russia was “taking unilateral measures on an international space”.

One of the areas affected by Russia’s restrictions is located near the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov and is of crucial importance for the export of grain and steel from Ukraine.

The Kerch Strait became a scene of confrontation in 2018 after Russia seized three Ukrainian ships there over alleged violations of its territorial waters.

Ukraine had been free to navigate the Kerch Strait along with Russia until 2014, when Moscow claimed full control of the waterway after annexing Crimea.

The Kerch Strait is also the site of a costly 19-km (12-mile) bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia that Moscow opened in 2018.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Thursday criticised the navigation restrictions, which were initially reported without specifics earlier this week, as a “usurpation of the sovereign rights of Ukraine”.

It also stressed that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, “Russia must neither obstruct nor halt transit through the international strait to ports in the Sea of Azov.”