- Sputnik International
Russia
The latest news and stories from Russia. Stay tuned for updates and breaking news on defense, politics, economy and more.

Russia should have returned lighthouses in 1997 - Ukrainian diplomat

Subscribe

MOSCOW, January 25 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Ukrainian diplomat said Wednesday that the lighthouses used by the Russian Black Sea fleet in Ukraine's Crimea were Ukrainian property and that Russia should have handed them over to Ukraine in 1997.

Leonid Osavolyuk, Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires to Russia, said the lighthouses fell under Ukraine's control as they were not among the navigation facilities included in a 20-year lease to Russia through a 1997 agreement. The agreement divided the Soviet Black Sea Fleet between Russia and its neighbor.

"Unfortunately, this transfer has still not been implemented," he said.

Ukrainian officials recently seized a Crimean lighthouse, but Moscow maintains its Black Sea Fleet's hydrographic service has the rights to the structure.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry claims all hydrographic facilities on the country's Crimean coast belong to Ukraine.

"There have already been court rulings on many of the lighthouses," Osavolyuk said, adding that all issues concerning the Russian Black Sea Fleet's stay in the Crimean port of Sevastopol should be resolved within a legal framework.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the 1997 agreement stipulated joint use of the facilities by the two navies, while Kiev insisted the agreement put them under Ukrainian control.

The standoff over the lighthouses on the Crimean peninsula threatens to further worsen Russian-Ukrainian relations, strained late last year by a gas pricing dispute. Moscow sharply raised the price of its natural gas imports to Ukraine, prompting some Ukrainian politicians to suggest that Russia's Black Sea Fleet should be charged a higher rent in Ukraine's Crimea. Talks on the fleet's status are to be held in mid-February.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала