Denmark calls for EU sanctions against Russia over Azov Sea

Samuelsen will meet Ukraine’s foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, on Tuesday and Wednesday according to Reuters.

His remarks came as the EU was preparing to issue a formal diplomatic protest over the detention of 24 Ukrainian sailors during an incident in the Azov Sea roughly two months ago.

On 25 November, Russian Navy vessels intercepted and retained two Ukranian gunboats and a tugboat which attempted to transit through the Kerch Strait - and according to some sources may have entered Russian territorial waters - on their way from the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa to Mariupol, on the Azov Sea.

France and Germany opposed issuing new sanctions against Russia in December, asking for more time to negotiate the release, but Denmark, Lithuania, Sweden and Britain argued in favour.

EU diplomats are set to meet in February to discuss the matter.

Moscow asserts the Ukrainian ships attempts to enter the Sea of Azov were meant to contest its control following the annexation of Crimea and ahead of upcoming elections.

The peninsula of Crimea, which had been home to Russia's Black Sea fleet for centuries, was ceded to Ukraine by Russia in 1954, when both still belonged to the Soviet Union and has been a point of contention since at least 1993, soon after the Soviet Union's collapse two years before, when Russia's attempts to secure its control were blocked.