The arrival of Russian Black Sea Fleet ships to Sevastopol (the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine) has been postponed to August 22.An UNIAN correspondent has learnt this from an informed source.
According
to the information of the source, the Russian BSF leadership, following
the Ukrainian President’s decree, gave 72 hours’ notice of the ships
movement to the Ukrainian side.
The Russian ships are expected to
enter the Sevastopol Bay in the morning of August 22. The source was
not informed about the reasons of postponing the return of the Russian
ships.
As reported earlier, Russian Black Sea Fleet ships –
“Moskva” missile cruiser, Smetlivy patrol boat, Mirazh missile boat,
and Turbinist minesweeper – planned to enter Sevastopol in the morning
of August 20. According to the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, the
leadership of the Russian fleet submitted to the Defense Ministry of
Ukraine the official information about the planned entrance of four
ships to Sevastopol. They followed the procedure of informing the
Ukrainian side determined in the Decrees of the Ukrainian President
¹705/2008 and ¹706/2008 “On Decision of the National Security and
Defense Council of Ukraine dated August 13”, concerning the movement of
Russian military objects on the Ukrainian territory.
President
Yushchenko of Ukraine signed a decree requiring the fleet, based in the
Crimean port of Sevastopol, to give 72 hours’ notice of any ship
movements. But General Nogovitsyn in Moscow said that the restrictions
would be ignored. “We have one general commander for the Black Sea
Fleet,” he said. “It is the President of Russia and all commands from
outside are illegitimate to us.”
