Poland's president said on Tuesday Warsaw would join any international moves to step up sanctions on Russia, after Moscow opened fire on and seized three Ukrainian navy ships near Russian-annexed Crimea over the weekend.
The U.S. State Department, the European Union, Britain, France, Denmark, and Canada have all condemned what they called Russian aggression. Moscow accuses the Ukrainian vessels of intruding into its territorial waters on Sunday, which Kiev denies.
"If there are such international initiatives, like further sanctions (on Russia), Poland will take part in these initiatives, because we are ready for all actions that will lead to solving the conflict," Polish President Andrzej Duda said during a visit to Bulgaria.
"We discussed the escalation of tensions in the Black Sea region between Russia and Ukraine and we are very concerned about this. We call for restraint, for understanding and for a quick de-escalation through dialogue," said Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.
Ukrainian lawmakers voted on Monday to back a proposal by President Petro Poroshenko to introduce martial law for a period of 30 days in areas of the country most vulnerable to an attack from Russia.
They also voted to confirm that Ukraine would hold presidential elections on March 31.
The vote followed the capture of three Ukrainian vessels by Russia over the weekend, a crisis that threatened to pitch the two countries into open conflict.
Separately, the International Monetary Fund said introducing martial law would have no bearing on continued IMF cooperation with Ukraine.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters