Navigation via the Kerch-Yenikale canal in the Kerch Strait works normally, Alexei Volkov, General Director of Crimean Seaports, told reporters on Monday.
"Navigation via the Kerch-Yenikale canal has been restored... flows as usual," he stated.
Volkov previously said that restrictions on ship entrance through the Kerch Strait, imposed because of the Ukrainian Navy’s provocative actions, have been lifted.
There were earlier reports that three Ukrainian warships, namely the Berdyansk, the Nikopol and the Yany Kapu, had illegally crossed Russia’s state border early on Sunday, before making another attempt of committing illegal actions in the country’s territorial waters later in the evening, according to the Russian Federal Security Service’s Border Service in Crimea. The Ukrainian vessels ignored legitimate demands of the Coast Guard of the FSB Border Service and the Black Sea Fleet for an immediate stop, performing dangerous maneuvers. Weapons had been used in order to stop the Ukrainian ships, which were detained in the Russian territorial waters. Criminal proceedings had been initiated on violation of the state border of the Russian Federation.
The Treaty on the Legal Status of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, signed in 2003, confirmed their status as domestic waters of Russia and Ukraine. The sides agreed on the joint usage and protection of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and introducing restrictions for vessels of third countries.
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