Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement on setting out fishing quotas in the Sea of Azov for 2020, the Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery Vasily Sokolov told reporters on Tuesday, according to Gazeta.ru.
“The parties reached a consensus on a majority of issues, although some problems persist,” he commented. The official underlined that such problems include decreasing the number of the European anchovy in the Sea of Azov and ecological issues.
The protocol on the use of fishing resources in the Sea of Azov is signed by Russia and Ukraine annually alternately in the territory of either country. This year, the ceremony was to take place in Russia. However, on the eve of the procedure Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection said Kiev would sign the protocol remotely, so the session of the Ukrainian-Russian commission was held online.
The Sea of Azov is an internal sea of two countries — Russia and Ukraine. There is a bilateral Russian-Ukrainian commission that governs fishing in the area.
Russia and Ukraine have been in a de facto armed conflict since 2014 when Moscow decided to annex the Crimea Peninsula from Ukraine and spark unrest in the Donbas area, followed by the creation of the self-declared pro-Russian Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. The United States, the European Union, and their allies answered Russia’s moves with sweeping economic sanctions, most of which are still in force.
