KIEV, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Russian warships will return to their base in the
Black Sea from operations against Georgia over the next two days under old rules
which signed by two countries, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko said
Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko last week signed a decree requiring
tougher rules on Russian naval movements from the base in Sevastopol, as a
reaction to the participation of Black Sea Fleet ships in the recent Russian
military operation in Georgia.
Ohryzko said Ukrainian government will pass all necessary documents and
bring its regulations on this account into line with Yuschenko's decree in the
near future.
"These documents will outline the mechanism for Russian ships to leave and
return to Ukraine. I think the new rules -- signed after the boats had left --
were not retroactive, so the previous regulations will remain in effect,"
Ohryzko said during an online news conference.
Ukraine, which has backed Georgia in a conflict with Russia over South
Ossetia, is angry that Russia has used ships from its Black Sea Fleet, based on
Ukraine's Crimea peninsula under an agreement signed by the two countries.
Russia has maintained its Black Sea fleet base in Sevastopol since the 1991
Soviet collapse and the current Russian lease on the facility expires in 2017.