EU Parliament condemns Russia’s actions in Kerch Strait

The European Parliament has issued a resolution on the ‘situation’ in the Sea of Azov, namely the construction by Russia of a bridge to span the Kerch Strait between the Crimean Peninsula and mainland Russia, and the ‘abusive manner’ in which Russia inspects ships passing through the Strait.

The EU has imposed a range of sanctions on Russia since its 2014 annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, in August sanctioning six Russian companies involved in the construction of the Kerch bridge. The resolution condemns the construction and ‘reiterates [the EU’s] concern at the involvement of European companies’ which ‘knowingly or unknowingly undermined the EU sanctions regime.’ The resolution calls upon the Commission to ‘assess and verify the application of EU restrictive measures in force and on Member States to share information regarding any national customs or criminal investigations into cases of potential violations.’

It also calls upon the Council, the Vice-President of the Commission and the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, to monitor the ‘evolving security situation’ and to ‘make clear that the targeted sanctions against Russia will be reinforced if the conflict in the Azov Sea escalates further.’

The resolution is non-binding.

For the European Parliament’s resolution see:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P8-TA-2018-0435&language=EN&ring=P8-RC-2018-0493