Ukraine will insist on closing the Bosphorus Strait to Russian ships, Ukrainian Navy Commander Ihor Voronchenko has said.

He said this at the 2nd International Maritime Security Conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

"As commander of the Navy, I ask and express my confidence that the international community will accept and acknowledge that there was an act of aggression against the state of Ukraine. In this regard and according to the Montreux Convention [Regarding the Regime of the Straits], namely [Article] 19, we will ask for the closure of the Bosphorus Strait by the Turkish Republic [to Russian vessels] so that Russians know how to violate international law," Voronchenko said.

He added that Russia is trying to establish and spread its dominance in the Baltic Sea, in the Arctic, in the Middle and Far East.

"Gaining control over Ukraine is critically important to Russia, since the full realization of those democratic and Euro-Atlantic transformations will lead to the collapse of imperial ambitions and the authoritarian state machine of the Russian Federation," Voronchenko said.

According to him, the actions of Russian servicemen in the Sea of Azov include signs of offenses stipulated by the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and they must be held to account for that.

The 2nd International Maritime Security Conference is a joint event of the Ukrainian Navy command and the International Center for Security and Defense Strategies. The conference is aimed at supporting the formation of appropriate naval capabilities in Ukraine, coordination of efforts and the achievement of operational naval interoperability with NATO.

The event is attended by politicians, diplomats, military, international experts and journalists from both sides of the Atlantic. The conference participants discuss current security challenges in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and ways of responding adequately to them, socio-political and economic implications of changes in the security environment, as well as NATO policies in the region. The strategy for the development of the Ukrainian Navy was also presented.

op