Navigation Via Kerch Strait Resumed After Weather-Related Suspension - Agency

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Navigation through the Kerch Strait was resumed on Sturday noon (9.00 GMT), Russian Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport (Rosmorrechflot) told Sputnik.

"The navigation of caravans resumed from noon on December 1 along the Kerch–Yenikale canal, the Taman Shipping Route," the press service said.

READ MORE: Kerch Crisis: Who's Pulling Poroshenko's Strings?

Earlier, Rosmorrechflot reported that navigation through Kerch Strait had been stopped due to adverse weather conditions and a threat of icing of ships.

The Kerch Strait has been at the centre of media attention after tensions between Russia and Ukraine started to escalate in the region. The dispute started when Russian border guards detained three Ukrainian Navy vessels and their 24 crewmembers last Sunday, including two members of Ukraine's Security Service as they violated Russia's maritime borders and engaged in dangerous manoeuvres in and around the Kerch Strait.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a pre-planned provocation, apparently connected to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's low approval ratings ahead of next spring's presidential elections. Kiev introduced martial law across ten regions of eastern and southeastern Ukraine on Monday, using the Kerch Strait incident as a pretext.

Crimea broke off from Ukraine and rejoined Russia in March 2014, a month after the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev overthrew the country's unpopular but democratically elected government.