Ukraine accused Russia of violating UN Convention on the Law of the Sea because of Kerch bridge construction

Russia establishes restrictions for the passage of vessels across the Kerch Strait despite the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Russia violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, blocking the Kerch Strait during the bridge construction to Crimea. The Ministry of the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons of Ukraine (UNITA) wrote in its appeal, as UNIAN reports.

«The Russian Federation, despite the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, establishes restrictions for the vessels passage through the Kerch Strait. So, the arch height will have a limit of 33 meters above sea. In addition, if earlier a passage through the Kerch Strait was allowed to vessels up to 200 meters length, now the Russian Federation claims to limit the permitted length to 160 meters», they said in the  Ministry.

According to the Mariupol port, at least 144 vessels, entered the port during the past year, do not correspond to the new requirements to the dimensions of ships, which is 23 percents of the total. These vessels have exactly 43 percents of the port's cargo handling, as the Ministry said.

«The established restrictions will lead to the fact that only ships with a relatively lower total carrying capacity (10,000 tons) might be able to enter the Mariupol seaport», they stressed out in the Ministry.

In turn, it will affect the competitiveness of port, since such vessels can transport cargo within the Black and Mediterranean seas only.

«To other continents as Asia, Africa and the United States, transportation is carried out by the ocean-going class vessels. As a larger vessel allows to reduce the cost of sea transportation per ton of cargo», they said in the Ministry.

It was reminded in the department that in accordance with Article 44 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of ​​1982, «States bordering straits shall not hamper transit passage and shall give appropriate publicity to any danger to navigation or overflight within or over the strait of which they have knowledge. There shall be no suspension of transit passage».

As UNIAN reported, the Russian President alleged on a need to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait on March 19, 2014, immediately after the Crimean annexation. Later, the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed his order to appoint «Stroygazmontazh» company and Arkadiy Rotenberg as a general contractor for the bridge construction to Crimea. The Russian authorities are eager to build this passing until December 2018. Experts are skeptical about this idea because of large economic costs and geological difficulties.