The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) will guarantee the security of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Ukrainian territory itself.

SBU head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko said this in an interview with Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta of June 15 of the current year.

He noted that FSB (Russian Federal Security Bureau) employees started working on the basis of the temporary Russian fleet, which was deployed in the Crimea, after SBU and the Russian then-time Security Ministry signed a respective protocol. The security of the Russian base was in question.

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“I’d like to stress, we are speaking about possible threats to the fleet, not threats posed by the fleet”, V.Nalyvaychenko pointed out.

According to him, currently SBU has formed a powerful counter-intelligence subdivision, which is working in Symferopol, Sevastopol, and other Crimean cities.

“Ukraine can guarantee the security of the Russian Black Sea Fleet base itself, I mean the entire range of possible threats. As soon as we did that we immediately notified the Russian side that the question of the presence of the Russian which is foreign special service was no longer topical," V.Nalyvaychenko stressed.

He expressed a belief that the pullout of FSB employees from the Ukrainian territory will not grow into a regular Russian-Ukrainian scandal.

"They will withdraw their officers, of course. There is no cause for scandal there. No political context at all. This is a routine issue. We as a country hosting a foreign military base have the opportunity to guarantee the security of the base starting with law and order in our territory and ending with antiterrorist regimen. We don`t need the assistance or physical presence of foreign special services for that," he said.