Russia threatens the international flights over the Black Sea – Klimkin

The Russian special services from the occupied Crimea interfere into the international emergency frequency of the Ukrainian air traffic services which causes a serious threat to the international flights over the Black Sea. This was stated during a speech in the UN Security Council by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin.

«Since the illegal occupation of Crimea in April, 2014 the Russian Federation has begun interfering into the international emergency frequency of air traffic services served by Ukraine. Such actions create a serious threat to flights within an international airspace over the high seas and are contrary to the Chicago Convention and its Appendixes 15 and 11 including the relevant points of ICAO in these issues», Klimkin said, according to Ukrinform.

According to him, after the Russian Federation unilaterally assumed the air navigation services in Simferopol region of the flight information, and it has also «violated UN General Assembly Resolution # 262 about the territorial integrity of Ukraine adopted in March 2014».

Klimkin called the actions of the Russian Federation towards the publication of aeronautical information as an attempt to legitimize its illegal activities.

«We would like to underline the importance of strict compliance with ICAO standards and recommended practices of all member states without any exceptions, particularly in the airspace over the high seas», the head of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine stressed out.

To remind some facts, after the occupation of Crimea Ukraine closed the airspace over the peninsula and banned the foreign naval vessels to enter the Crimean ports.