Ukraine’s president: “Putin wants the old Russian empire back”

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko accused Vladimir Putin Thursday of wanting to annex his entire country, as his government revealed Russia has put two Ukrainian ports under blockade.

Tensions have surged between Moscow and Kiev since Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian vessels off the Crimean peninsula Sunday, detaining their crews after claiming they had illegally entered Russian waters.

Ukraine, which denies any wrongdoing, has temporarily imposed martial law in its border regions in response to the crisis.

In interviews with German media Thursday, Poroshenko said that the passage of the Ukrainian vessels through the Sea of Azov — a body of water between Russia, Ukraine and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014 — was not a provocation.

“Don't believe Putin's lies,” he told German newspaper Bild. “Putin wants the old Russian empire back.”

“Crimea, Donbass, the whole country. As Russian Tsar, as he sees himself, his empire can't function without Ukraine. He sees us as his colony.”

Poroshenko called on NATO to send ships to the region to provide security for his country, and said further sanctions were needed against Moscow immediately.

“We hope states within NATO are now ready to relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security,” he said.

“We cannot accept this aggressive policy of Russia. First it was Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, now he wants the Sea of Azov. Germany, too, has to ask itself: What will Putin do next if we do not stop him?”

Ukraine is not a NATO member state, but is considered a partner country, and the alliance has expressed its “full support” for Kiev. A spokeswoman did not comment directly on Poroshenko’s request Thursday, but said NATO had “substantially increased its presence in the Black Sea” since the Russian annexation of Crimea.

Poroshenko’s comments came as his government’s infrastructure minister revealed that Russia had effectively placed the Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol on the Sea of Azov under blockade.

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Volodymyr Omelyan said on Facebook that 35 vessels had been prevented from carrying out normal shipping operations in the ports, which are usually busy hubs for transporting grain and steel.

“The goal is simple: by placing a blockade on Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea, Russia hopes to drive Ukraine out of our own territory — territory that is ours in accordance with all relevant international laws,” he said.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a pro-Russian leader was ousted in Kiev, and has since backed pro-Russian separatists in a bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives. On Wednesday, Putin accused Poroshenko of creating the current maritime standoff to help boost his support ahead of elections next year.

Cover image: Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko visits the 169th training centre "Desna" of the Ukrainian Army ground forces in Chernihiv Region, Ukraine November 28, 2018. (Mykola Lazarenko/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS)