Russia seizes Ukrainian ships near Crimea after firing at them

[Sir Mohamed]

I doubt this move helps Poroshenko that much. He's DOA for the next election. According to Wikipedia, he hasn't even decalred yet. Maybe he pulls a Hollande?

[Sir Mohamed]

Actually a surprise a thing like this hasn't happend long before.

The point here is that the conflict on Crimea is almost unsolvable. If the West ever accepts the annexion, it would send horrible signals to the world and autocrats. That we once again can move borders with force and that agreements such as the Budapest agreement from 1994 are not worth the paper. On the other hand, the West can't free Crimea without starting a third world war. Russia is not just giving it back to Ukraine. The only solution would be a new and fair referendum under UN oversight that all sides agree to recognize regardless of the outcome. But I don't see this happening in the coming years or even decades. It will remain a frozen conflict similar to Transnistria or the unsolved Taiwan question.

[Sir Mohamed]

All that needs to be done is to say to Russia that if you aren't going to give Ukraine free access thru the Kerch Strait, Russia doesn't get free access thru the Bosporus.That should make Putin realize the can of worms he's opening up.

Thats not exactly the same, acknowledging Turkey's right do do so means the countries pushing for this would be relinquishing their rights to the Bosporous as well, in addition to actually having to convince Trukey to do so.

This, at least theoretically, can be limited to Russia because it is denying the right to traverse "national" waters to go from one area of international waters to another and thus should not be able to claim the same right for their ships. Still, I agree it's unlikely to implemented.

Or the Street of Gibraltar and/or Suez Canal instead. The issue here is that Russia and Ukraine have a treaty from 2003 that grants free access to the Sea of Azov.