Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated last Sunday after Ukrainian gunboats violated Russia's maritime borders around Crimea, prompting Russian border guards to storm the boats and detain their crews. US allies France and Germany have reportedly refused to consider new sanctions against Moscow over the incident despite pleas by Kiev.
US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has called on Washington and Brussels to consider new sanctions against Moscow over last Sunday's incident in the Kerch Strait.
In an interview for Suddeutsche Zeitung, Volker, a former CIA analyst and NATO staffer, said that it “would be very good if the Europeans looked at additional sanctions, and we in Washington were to do the same.”
Stressing that “the Russians must release the Ukrainian ships and sailors and come back to the negotiating table to resolve this conflict over the long term,” Volker recalled that Sunday's Kerch Strait incident broke off a meeting he was meant to have with Russian Ukraine negotiator Vladislav Surkov.
Russia detained three Ukrainian Navy vessels and their 24 crewmembers, including two members of Ukraine's Security Service, after they violated Russia's maritime borders and engaged in dangerous maneuvers in and around the Kerch Strait last Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a pre-planned provocation, and said it seemed to be connected to Ukrainian…