3 December 2018 11:24 am
DPA, 02nd DECEMBER, 2018-Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday accused Ukraine of not wanting a peaceful solution to its conflict with Russia.
At a press conference at the end of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Putin repeated his assertion that the latest incident in the Kerch Strait was a “provocation” by Ukraine which reflected Kiev’s attitude.
The ruling party in Kiev was a “party of war” and “as long as it’s in power, tragedies of this type and the war will continue,” Putin argued, adding that it was always blaming Russian aggression for its leadership failures.
Putin has previously suggested that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko engineered Sunday’s incident in a bid to improve his chances ahead of next year’s presidential election, without providing any evidence for the claim.
On Sunday, Russia seized three Ukrainian naval vessels off the Crimean Peninsula, a territory it annexed from Ukraine four years ago.
In the most dangerous flare-up of violence since 2014, the Russian coastguard opened fire and captured the Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait, which links the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Kiev then instituted 30 days of martial law and imposed border controls on Russian men aged between 16 and 60, citing fears that Russia would infiltrate its territory to stage an uprising.