Islam Times - Poroshenko using Kerch incident to strengthen position

Islam Times - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is seeking to strengthen his position domestically by provoking the recent incident in the Kerch Strait, says an academic, adding that there is no threat of war with Russia.

On Sunday, Russia seized two Ukrainian armored artillery vessels and a tug boat trying to pass through the Kerch Strait in the Azov Sea.

The Kremlin has said the seizure of the ships was lawful because they were trespassing.

Ukraine’s lawmakers later adopted a martial law measure in the border regions of the country for 30 days during a Monday vote in the parliament.

Poroshenko has warned Russia’s increased military presence on the border with his country risks the threat of “full-scale war.”

“As long as he [Poroshenko] has the Ukrainians in the false belief that there is a Russian threat which is purely manufactured, they have only been able to place these forces at ten borders because members of his own parliament are in a state of disbelief about his allegations, given that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is a very stable guy [and] he is not about to do anything rash, there is no bona fide risk of war with Russia but Poroshenko wants to portray it as though there were to strengthen his hand domestically. It is pure domestic politics by Poroshenko,” James Fetzer, professor emeritus at University of Minnesota Duluth said.

The Sea of Azov is a strategic ocean route linked to the Black Sea by the narrow Strait of Kerch where Russia has built a bridge to link the Crimean Peninsula with the mainland.