OREANDA-NEWS  Passage of NATO ships in the Sea of Azov without the consent of Russia is excluded, told Deputy Prime Minister of the Crimean government-permanent representative of the Republic of Crimea under President George Muradov.

OREANDA-NEWS "Military vessels of foreign countries under the Russian-Ukrainian agreement of 2003 can enter the waters of the Azov Sea only with the consent of the two parties — Russia and Ukraine", — reminded Muradov.

According to him, Moscow will not give such consent.

At the same time, he called the appearance of foreign warships in the Sea of Azov unacceptable.

Muradov also expressed the opinion that the November provocation in the Kerch Strait was conceived by the Ukrainian authorities in order to invite ships of Western curators interested in destabilizing the situation at the Russian borders to the region.

Last week, Deputy Minister for the "temporarily occupied" territories of Ukraine Yuriy Grymchak said that Kiev intends to continue attempts to carry ships through the Kerch Strait.

Earlier plans to carry out the passages of ships through the Kerch Strait was announced by adviser of the President of Petro Poroshenko Yuri Biryukov and the head of the NSDC Oleksandr Turchynov.

At the end of November, three Ukrainian warships violated the Russian border and headed from the Black Sea to the Kerch Strait. They maneuvered dangerously, refusing to comply with the legitimate demands of the Russian authorities. As a result, the ships were detained, and the Ukrainian sailors were arrested. Against them opened a criminal case on illegal crossing of the state border.

Vladimir Putin called the incident a provocation. He stressed that among the sailors were two employees of the security Service of Ukraine, who actually led the operation. The head of state is sure that Kiev has taken such a step because of Poroshenko's low rating on the eve of the elections.