Russia could cut off Ukraine’s access to the Sea of Azov “in minutes,”

Russia could cut off Ukraine’s access to the Sea of Azov “in minutes,” a key Russian legislator threatened after Ukraine’s Border Guard Service detained 15 ships at Berdyansk and Mariupol on suspicion that they docked earlier in Crimea. Franz Klintsevich, who sits on the defense committee of Russia’s Federation Council, made the closure threat on Friday. By some estimates, 10 percent of Ukraine’s seaborne trade goes through the Azov. Since the summer of 2014, Ukrainian law holds that Crimea’s ports — Yevpatoria, Kerch, Sevastopol, Feodosiya, Yalta – are closed. Any vessel that docks at one of these ports violates Ukrainian law and international sanctions.