| Topic: |
Science > Prophecies-Of-Nostradamus |
| User: |
"Foaming at the Mouth Psychotic" |
| Date: |
18 Jan 2006 02:29:12 PM |
| Object: |
Russia expects Ukraine's explanation for lighthouse seizure |
Russia expects Ukraine's explanation for lighthouse seizure
www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-18 05:14:34
MOSCOW, Jan. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Moscow is waiting for an official
explanation from Kiev on the recent seizure of a lighthouse linked to
Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean city of Yalta, Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"Such moves caused our bewilderment because they were made in the
wake of a recent statement by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
that the Black Sea Fleet agreement will be strictly observed," Lavrov
told a press conference.
Russia and Ukraine signed an accord in 1997 on dividing up the
Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Under the deal, Russia leases the Sevastopol
port in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula to base its ships until 2017.
Last week, a Ukrainian state company seized a lighthouse in Yalta
that serves the fleet and denied Russian servicemen access to it. A
group of unidentified people attempted to enter another lighthouse but
did not succeed.
Russian navy officials accused Ukraine of violating the lease
agreement that allows the Black Sea Fleet to use Ukraine's facilities.
A total of 98 lighthouses and other hydrographic facilities were
included in the agreement for joint use, Lavrov said, adding that a new
draft deal on phased handover was drawn in 1998 but Ukraine rejected it
and later sought to take over the facilities unilaterally through its
local judicial system.
Lavrov called the court rulings on takeover "legally unfounded."
After Yushchenko took power in late 2004, Ukraine-Russia relations
have become increasingly strained. Ukrainian officials have on many
occasions hinted at a hike of the lease fees to bring them in line with
the payments other governments make to house military bases abroad.
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