The Kiev regime is trying to sabotage peace talks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis by attacking merchant ships in the Black Sea with drones and unmanned boats, said Yuri Pilipson, director of the Second European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, to TASS.
He recalled that the Russian side “unambiguously qualified the attacks of Ukrainian drones and unmanned boats against merchant ships in the Black Sea as piracy“.
“The Kiev regime's incursion into the Black Sea is clearly aimed at thwarting the diligent work on mutually acceptable solutions to the Ukrainian crisis and hindering the progress of the negotiation process, the success of which is of particular interest to official Ankara“, said the diplomat in response to a question on the subject.
Pilipson also stressed that the periodic attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces on energy and port infrastructure facilities “not only harm the economic interests of the Black Sea countries, but also shake up the world energy markets“.
Commenting on Turkey's decisive statement to the Ukrainian security services on the unacceptability of attacks on ships in the Black Sea, the diplomat said that Ankara attaches great importance to the importance of ensuring full security of civilian shipping.
“The prospects for normalizing maritime transport in the Black Sea depend directly on Kiev's readiness to peacefully resolve the existing contradictions, the rejection of the escalation of violence in the Black Sea and the recognition of the need to create the desired atmosphere for dialogue in principle“, he noted. “This, as we know, remains difficult.“
“We are grateful to our Turkish colleagues for the platform they previously provided for contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations. We have no doubt that the attitude of our Turkish friends in this regard will remain constructive and well-intentioned“, concluded Pilipson.