“While Russia is surely claiming territorial dominion over Crimea, the highly contested root of the conflict here, Moscow knows that the Sea of Azov likely won’t turn into the kind of international debacle China created with ludicrously expansive claims in the South China Sea, and that gives Russia enormous leverage. Russia already has internationally recognized rights in the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov that China could only dream of in the South China Sea. Whereas China’s claims of maritime rights over most of the South China Sea have been rejected by an international tribunal, Russia’s rights in the Kerch Strait are well defined. The body of water is an inland, semi-enclosed sea and governed by Article 123 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Foggo said Oct. 5, meaning the two nations that border it – Russia and Ukraine – are required to cooperate on all maritime matters, including access to the strait. That’s very different from the South China Sea where the U.S. and many of its allies claim China is asserting dominion over what are essentially international waters.”
Source: The Sea of Azov won’t become the new South China Sea (and Russia knows it)
