MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia is ready to hand over navigation and hydrographic equipment in use of the Black Sea Fleet to Ukraine, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, former Black Sea Fleet commander and Navy chief of staff, told Interfax-Military News Agency Tuesday.
"I would like to stress that we are ready to hand over part of the equipment, as the other part of it is necessary for safe navigation of our fleet in the Black Sea. But Ukraine wants to have the whole of our equipment, " he said.
He recalled that under N2 additional agreement to the 1997 basic agreement on the temporary stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine, a separate agreement should be signed to hand over Russian navigation and hydrographic equipment to Ukraine. "When I was in charge of the Black Sea Fleet, we reached an agreement on this with Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denounced it as Kyiv thought that Russia should hand over all the equipment, which is impossible for navigation safety reasons," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dmitriy Svistkov, deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry press service, accused Russia of violating the agreement on the Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine.
"There are facts of violations of ecological legislation. But our greatest concern is that the Russian side is refusing to hand over the navigation and hydrographic equipment to ensure safety of navigation at the coasts of the Crimea, which makes Ukrainian international obligations impossible to fulfil, and may result in certain emergencies in territorial waters of the country," Svistkov told a news briefing in Kyiv.
Svistkov was commenting on the results of the working tour of representatives of Ukrainian ministries headed by Volodymyr Ogryzko, first deputy of the Ukrainian foreign minister, to Sevastopol on April 11-13, during which the issues of Russian Black Sea Fleet stationing in Ukraine were discussed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk said in Dnipropetrovsk a few days ago that Ukraine is not going to extend the agreement on the Russian Black Sea Fleet's stationing in its territory. He recalled that under international agreements, the fleet is to be withdrawn from Ukraine before 2017. "Ukraine abides by its commitments on the Russian Black Sea Fleet," Tarasyuk said, adding that the Russian side does not, and is violating the agreements systematically.