A view of Sevastopol. Senior advisor of Russia’s embassy in Ukraine, Vladimir Lysenko threatened to revise the Treaty of 1997 that confirms the Ukrainian status of Crimea Peninsula.
Photo: Ekaterina Verzunova
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Russia’s Embassy Aimed the Blow
Yesterday, senior advisor of Russia’s embassy in Ukraine, Vladimir Lysenko threatened the Ukrainian authorities to revise the Treaty of 1997 that confirms the Ukrainian status of Crimea Peninsula. It may happen, Lysenko warned, if Ukraine proceeds with pressurizing the Black Sea Fleet of Russia that is based in Crimea.
Russia, Lysenko went on, agreed to stock-taking of the Black Sea Fleet’s facilities in Crimea as an action of good will. But it won’t longer tolerate pressurizing it.
“If Ukraine raises the issue of revising the lease payment in time of stock-taking, won’t it be a reason to reconsider the basic agreement,” the official posed a rhetorical question. “I think should the Black Sea Fleet leave Crimea, the U.S ships would arrive there. They won’t pay for the lease,” Lysenko was emphatic.
It is not surprising that the above rhetoric of Russia’s diplomat triggered a diplomatic scandal, the more so that Lysenko came up with such statements on the eve of the Independence Day in Ukraine.
In the absence of Russia’s Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin (who is on vacation in Crimea), the senior diplomat of the RF embassy was summoned to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to explain.
As a result, the embassy’s briefer Oleg Grishin played down Lysenko’s words later that day, saying they “were out of the context.” But the diplomat didn’t specify what particular context was omitted.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 24, 2007
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