Russia calls on Ukraine to provide safe port exit for foreign ships

MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - Russia poses no threat to ships in the Azov and Black Seas, the head of Russia's National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, told a briefing on Friday.

"Yet again we stress that Russian Armed Forces do not create any danger to the shipping in the Azov, or Black, seas or in other parts of the world's waterways," Mizintsev said.

There are more than 50 foreign ships at Ukraine's ports, with crewmembers from various countries including Azerbaijan, Greece, Georgia, Egypt, India, Libya, Syria, Turkey, the Philippines and Jamaica, he said.

"We call on Ukraine to abide strictly by international humanitarian law and provide the foreign vessels with safe exit from Ukraine's ports and territorial sea," he said.