AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, President Viktor Yushchenko said that Ukraine needed to conduct a detailed inventory of Russia's Black Sea fleet base in Crimea as the first step in resolving the two neighbors' row over the base.
“It is necessary to carry out an inventory,” Yushchenko told a press conference in Kiev on April 12.
Ukraine and Russia have clashed repeatedly in recent months over Moscow's Black Sea fleet base in the Crimean peninsula, with Kiev saying that it wants to hike substantially the installation's rent.
Under a 20-year lease agreement the two neighbors signed in 1997, Moscow pays just under $100 million (83 million euros) a year to lease land and property for the base, which has served as headquarters for the fleet since its founding in the late 18th century.
Kiev wants to raise the fee to bring it into line with what other states pay to house military bases abroad. Officials here have said the new price could be as high as 1.8 billion dollars (1.5 billion euros) a year.
The Ukrainian leader said that the two sides disagreed on whether hundreds of acres, buildings and navigation installations are covered by the current agreement, making a detailed inventory essential to resolving the dispute.
