Freedom of Navigation Monitoring

In May 2020, the average duration of artificial delays of vessels en route from the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov (Mariupol and Berdiansk) by the RF was 10.1 hours (the yearly average for 2019 was 29.9 hours, the average for the 1st quarter of 2020 was 34 hours). This figure was the lowest since the beginning of the de facto blockade in July 2018.

43 out of 97 vessels passed from the Sea of ​​Azov to the Black Sea in a mode that can be considered normal. This situation was also observed for the first time since June 2018. The main factor - is the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in the ships’ countries of origin, as well as in occupied Crimea and Krasnodar Krai of the RF, where ships and boats of the Coast Guard of the Border Service of the FSB of the RF are based

The Monitoring group of the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies, the Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BlackSeaNews are glad to share with you the latest in a series of our monthly studies on Russia's economic war against Ukraine at the Sea of Azov.

The Monitoring group of the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies, the Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BlackSeaNews are glad to share with you the latest in a series of our monthly studies on Russia's economic war against Ukraine at the Sea of Azov.

The article is devoted to defining the legal status of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and the analysis of the Agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait (Kerch Treaty).

The total number of cases of the obstruction of the freedom of navigation to / from the Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea by the RF from May 17, 2018 to December 31, 2019 = 2249. On average, for the period from 17.05.18 to 31.12.19, each vessel lost extra 4 days per voyage because of the artificial delays, which cost approximately $40,000 per vessel.

The Monitoring group of the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies, the Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BlackSeaNews are glad to share with you the latest in a series of our monthly studies on Russia's economic war against Ukraine at the Sea of Azov.

Below is the monitoring team’s update on the summer-early fall 2019 developments of the already infamous process of obstructing the freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait for seagoing ships to/from Mariupol and Berdyansk, the Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov.

Russia's economic war against Ukraine in the Sea of Azov as of December 1, 2018: the technology of blocking the Mariupol and Berdyansk ports.

For the first time, the joint monitoring group of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs, the Institute of Strategic Black Sea Studies and the BlackSeaNews online portal presents the summary and analysis of the detentions of sea vessels headed to and from the Ukrainian ports in the Sea of ​​Azov — Mariupol and Berdyansk — by the Coast Guard of the FSB Border Service of the Russian Navy.

The Monitoring Group of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs, the Institute of Strategic Black Sea Studies (Kyiv) and the online edition of the BlackSeaNews present the database of sea vessels going to/from Mariupol and Berdyansk, the Ukrainian ports in the Azov Sea.