Warsaw: Poland on Friday (local time) barred Russian tall ship Sedov from entering its territorial waters, alleging that naval cadets from Crimea were on board.
“We believe that allowing the Russian tall ship enter Poland’s territorial waters would contradict its policy of respecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” TASS quoted Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ewa Suwara, as saying.
The minister claimed that the ship had cadets from Crimea, and Poland does not recognise the annexation of Crimea.
This comes days after Sedov was reportedly denied entry into Estonian waters, citing similar reasons.
Crimea was annexed by Russian troops in March 2014.
Moscow had claimed that Crimea became a part of Russia, following a referendum, where the population of Crimea agreed to switch from Ukrainian nationality to Russian, Al Jazeera reported.
The annexation led to tensions and violence in the Crimean peninsula, which also saw then pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich being overthrown, following massive demonstrations in that year.
Last year, the United States imposed a new set of sanctions on a dozen of Russian individuals pertaining to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]