Quote:
Originally Posted by undercoverbrother
Those waters are international (IIRC).
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No, they are not. They are internal waterways to Russia and Ukraine. They are so strategically insignificant that no other countries care. Nonetheless, here is some legal discussion (in three parts):
1.
https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/ukrain...e-sea-of-azov/
2.
https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/ukrain...sea-of-azov-2/
3.
https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/ukrain...sea-of-azov-3/
Regardless of the legal situation concerning the Kerch Strait, every vessel that wants to pass through it must announce its intentions well in advance, take a pilot and then pass the strait. This is a non-negotiable SOP and is done for the safety of the waterway, the other ships and the several-billion dollar Crimean Bridge. That's the way two Ukrainian naval vessels passed the strait two months ago. They didn't do it this time and here we are.