MOSCOW. Aug 13 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 1,000 cars with ammunition that were supposed to be transferred to Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union are still within the city limits of Sevastopol, Colonel Igor Lebed, former military prosecutor of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, has said.
Warranty storage periods of many of them have expired, Lebed said in an interview with the Trud newspaper published on Tuesday. If some of the cars explode, no window glasses in Sevastopol will remain safe, he claimed.
The Ukrainians "should have accepted the ammunition before the end of 1997 and taken them to a safe place," the former prosecutor went on. However nearly all the cars are still in Sevastopol due to lack of funds, he said.
"And Russia has to protect all these explosive goodies. The country has lost about RUB55m (USD1.74m) on that alone," Lebed stressed.
He said navigation and hydrographic equipment along the Black Sea coast from Sevastopol to Cape Lukull was an unsettled issue as well. This concerns 55 floating warning signs and five lighthouses serviced by the Black Sea Fleet.
"The fate of these navigation support assets is truly unclear," Lebed noted. Ukraine remains in possession of the assets that it got hold of on its own before the Soviet Black Sea Fleet's division, and Russia maintains all the rest.
The issue was once again considered by the Arbitration Court in Kyiv a month ago and the decision was once again postponed. Earlier, Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine ordered elaboration of documents on the matter at a higher pace.
At the same time, some positive tendencies have emerged, Lebed said. The crime rate declined by 47 percent in the Black Sea Fleet in comparison with last year, and this is the best result in the Russian Navy, he stressed.
Lebed currently serves as prosecutor of the Leningrad military district.