Ukraine urges Russia to follow naval base agreement

At today night Russian Black Sea Fleet Command has blockaded Sarych Cape's entry for vehicles by armoured troop-carrier relocated from Sevastopol.

 

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has sent a note to Russia in connection with unauthorized relocation of armoured equipment to Sarych Cape.

 

Foreign Ministry of Ukraine urges Russia stop violating the agreement on status and conditions of Russian Black Sea Fleet residence in the territory of Ukraine, the statement on Russian military men dislocation, RIA Novosty reported.

 

Ukraine urged Russia Thursday not to move military hardware from its Ukrainian naval base without consulting the country's authorities, in another sign that Kiev is increasingly reluctant to allow its neighbor access to its Black Sea coast.

Answering a question about Russia's relocation of heavy military equipment from the Crimean base of Sevastopol to Cape Sarych in the south of Crimea, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vasyl Filipchuk said redeployment was "possible only after coordination with Ukraine's authorities."

The issue, however, was not a reason to escalate any further the tensions between the two countries, Filipchuk said.

Filipchuk said the unilateral relocation of Russia's military hardware over Ukraine would be a "clear infringement of the existing bilateral agreement on the status of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine," but added: "We do not want any escalation in our [Russian-Ukrainian] relations."

The spokesman said he believed that the tensions that have built up between Moscow and Kiev this month would be resolved during a meeting of a working group on the Black Sea Fleet within a commission set up by the two countries' presidents, due in February.