16 June 2004 14:17
Georgia detains Russian ship for entering military exercise zone
Tbilisi, 16 June: The bulk carrier Tsirkon, which flies the Russian flag, was detained in Georgian territorial waters
last night for violating international navigational regulations, and, specifically, for passing through a so-called
"closed zone shown on all maps".
An ITAR-TASS correspondent was informed of this by Davit Tsintsadze, the head of the investigations branch of the
Georgian [state] border [protection] department's coastguard service, who is in Batumi.
Tsintsadze noted that "this closed zone is in an area of Georgian territorial waters where firing exercises and
manoeuvres by naval forces and border guards are usually held".
"Passage through this zone is prohibited to all ships and vessels, both Georgian and foreign ones,"
Tsintsadze said. He said the crew of the Tsirkon "did not contact Georgian border guards and did not react to
orders to stop moving through the closed zone".
"After that, a boarding party from a coastguard patrol boat went aboard the Tsirkon. The bulk carrier is now in
the roadsteads at the port of Batumi," Tsintsadze said. He noted that "the captain of the Tsirkon said he took
the bulk carrier through the closed zone because this was the shortest route to his destination and because he wanted to
save fuel". There is an 11-man crew aboard the Tsirkon. The vessel was heading for Azov. Its port of registration
is Taganrog.
The press centre of Georgia's border department told an ITAR-TASS correspondent that 11 foreign vessels, most of
them Turkish, Greek or Ukrainian, have been detained in the country's territorial waters so far this year for
various violations.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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