Comment of the Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

 on the statement of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Russian Federation Mr. V.Vysotskiy

 on parameters of the Black Sea Navy of the Russian Federation in the territory of Ukraine

On May 30, 2008, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Russian Federation Mr. V.Vysotskiy stated that the basic agreements on the Black Sea Navy allow Russia to have up to 100 battleships with actual 35 ones and up to 25 thousand servicemen with actual 11 thousand in the territory of Ukraine. In the view of this, the Commander-in-Chief Mr. V.Vysotskiy emphasized that there are no hindrances to bring them up to complete strength.

In connection with this, it should be noted that the list of battleships and vessels of the Black Sea Navy owned by the Russian Federation in the territory of Ukraine is clearly fixed in the Agreement on Division Parameters of the Black Sea Navy between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

The basic agreements do not provide the right to bring any new battleships and vessels of the Black Sea Navy of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine.

Replacement of any of the ships indicated in the basic Agreement by a new one may be considered in the course of negotiations subject to the “class-by-class, type-by-type” principle, i.e. replacement of a ship by another one of the same class or type.

Simultaneously, we would like to underline that increase of personnel of the Black Sea Navy of the Russian Federation in the territory of Ukraine does not correspond to its further withdrawal logic.