25 Jul 2019 15:53

ITLOS should handle 'hijacking' of Russian tanker in Ukraine - Dzhabarov

MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) should deal with the incident concerning the detention of a Russian tanker in Ukraine, first deputy head of the Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said.

"The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea can well handle this because hijackings of vessels lie within its sphere of responsibility. Let them deal with it," Dzhabarov told Interfax on Thursday.

"It is clearly a hijacking," he said.

"It cannot be identified with the events in the Kerch Strait. In that case there was a violation of the Russian state border by Ukrainian ships, and here our ship was in a port. They detained and hijacked it," Dzhabarov said.