The leaders of Russia and Ukraine discussed the fate of a Russian naval base on the Black Sea during a meeting Wednesday

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

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The leaders of Russia and Ukraine discussed the fate of a Russian naval base on the Black Sea during a meeting Wednesday. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yushchenko focused on the Sevastopol base in the Ukrainian autonomy of the Crimea, which is leased by the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Although the two countries have an agreement under which Russia will lease the base until 2017, some Ukrainian politicians sought a revision of the contract terms after Russian energy giant Gazprom announced that it wanted to raise prices for supplies of natural gas to Ukraine to market levels. Yushchenko himself, who even in December ruled out revising the terms, said Wednesday: "We have reached agreement that the relevant committee will discuss all the unsettled issues in January or February." A Russian delegation source said the Ukraine side had confirmed it would "honor all its commitments on the base in full." Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been based in Sevastopol since the 18th century, but the country has been leasing the base in the Crimea, which was handed over to Ukraine by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991

Bookmark The leaders of Russia and Ukraine discussed the fate of a Russian naval base on the Black Sea during a meeting Wednesday