The United States calls on Russia to comply with the decision of the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea and immediately release Ukrainian sailors and ships, said Kurt Volker, the special representative of the U.S. State Department for Ukraine Negotiations.

"We completely support the court decision. There is no legal reason for Russia to continue to hold these sailors," he said during an online conference on Tuesday.

He recalled that Ukrainian sailors "were attacked illegally in international waters, then they were taken illegally to Russia."

"They should be treated as members of a foreign government's military forces. There is no basis to hold them inside Russia, and we do urge their immediate release," Volker said.

At the same time, he stated that Russia has no intentions to implement this decision of the Tribunal, and "there's no force that's going to be applied to Russia to make them follow the rule of law and to make them follow this court decision.

As reported, on May 25, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) made a decision obliging the Russian Federation to release three Ukrainian vessels and 24 Ukrainian sailors detained in the Kerch Strait in November 2018 and allow them to return to Ukraine.

A total of 19 judges voted in favor of this decision, one judge - Ruslan Kolodkin (the Russian Federation) voted against the decision.

The tribunal ordered the Russian Federation to report on the implementation of this decision until June 25, 2019, and also obliged Ukraine and Russia to refrain from any actions that could aggravate or prolong the dispute.