Despite the decision of the International Maritime Court: the Russian court extended the detention of Ukrainian sailors

The Russian court today confirmed the extension of detention for 24 Ukrainian sailors imprisoned after the maritime incident in November.

This decision was made two days after the International Maritime Court in Hamburg ordered Russia to release them immediately.

The sailors' lawyers even had a decision of this court, which monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and in which it was assessed as illegal the decision to extend detention until the end of July.

"The decisions of the Lefortovo court in Moscow extending the detention of the accused remain unchanged. The appeals of the lawyers have been dismissed," the Moscow court announced, as reported by the Interfax agency.

Earlier today, the Kremlin rejected the decision of the court in Hamburg, saying that the court has no authority and that Moscow will always defend its position in this case. Moscow wants the sailors to be tried in Russia.

Ukraine appealed to the court in Hamburg in April, but Russia boycotted the procedure.

In November 2018, an armed incident between Ukrainian ships and the Russian coast guard off Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, ended with Russia seizing three Ukrainian military ships and capturing their crews.

Russia denounced it as aggression, saying they illegally entered Russian waters, while Ukraine said it had warned its neighbor in advance about the ships' route and accused Moscow of violating international law.