Russia and Ukraine should celebrate the 65th Victory Day with a joint military parade in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said on Thursday.
"I think that it would be proper if we staged a military parade with Russia in the hero-city of Sevastopol," Yanukovych said in a speech to the regional parliament.
Sevastopol, a major base for the Russian and Ukrainian navies, traditionally celebrates Victory Day with a naval rather than military parade. A city official said last week that this year's parade would for the first time involve Russian as well as Ukrainian warships.
This year's event may be the first in many years to feature heavy military equipment.
Yanukovych said he would sign a decree outlining the procedure of the 65th Victory Day celebration in Ukraine "in the next few days." He added that World War II veterans living in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus would receive identical financial benefit for the holiday.
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has been a source of tension between Russia and Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Tensions rose sharply in 2003 over a bitter border dispute on the Kerch Strait, and again in 2008, over the deployment of Russia's Black Sea Fleet during a five-day war with Georgia.
Russia's lease on the Black Sea Fleet's main base of Sevastopol is due to expire in 2017, but the new president may look to step back from predecessor Viktor Yushchenko's strict insistence that the foreign forces leave.
SIMFEROPOL, March 18 (RIA Novosti)
