New ferry line to Crimea launched


A new ferry service was inaugurated between Turkey's northern port city of Zonguldak and Crimean peninsula which joined the Russian Federation last year after the conflict in Ukraine. A shipping company operating the ferries announced a single ferry boat will be operated on the line every Friday, from Zonguldak to Sevastopol.

The launch of the line from Zonguldak to Sevastopol's Kamyshova port comes at a time of a ban on vessels carrying flags of European Union countries anchoring at Crimean ports. European Union has imposed a ban on European cruise ships to visit the Crimean ports. The ban will be in force until June 2016.

Turkey is among the countries opposed to Russia's annexation of Crimea and one that defends the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but it did not implement the EU and U.S.'s economic sanctions imposed on Russia, with which the country enjoys friendly relations.