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 UNIAN 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 №705/2008 and №706/2008 “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.”
