"Any statements of this kind are deliberate disinformation because the lighthouse at the Yalta seaport, as well as other navigation and hydrographic facilities on the Crimean seacoast, is Ukraine's property," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Russian Navy earlier said that eight officers of the Ukrainian Transportation Ministry's hydrographic service had entered the Yalta lighthouse Friday morning, saying they were there to carry out an inspection, and had prevented Russian staff from working.
The Ukrainian ministry specified that framework agreements regulating the Russian Black Sea Fleet's operation in Ukraine did not provide for leasing navigation or hydrographic facilities to the Russian fleet. "This is prohibited by Ukrainian laws," the ministry said.
The ministry added that international laws placed responsibility for navigation security in Ukrainian territorial waters on Ukraine.
According to the ministry, a contract signed between the Ukrainian Transportation Ministry and the Yalta seaport allowed Gosgidrografia to use the lighthouse.
The Russian Navy General Staff has condemned the seizure of the lighthouse as "provocation," while Russia's Foreign Ministry said the incident could only harm relations between the two countries.
"We classify the seizure of the Yalta lighthouse on whatever pretext as provocation," said Captain Igor Dygalo, an aide to the Navy Commander in Chief.
Dygalo said Russia and Ukraine signed a protocol in April 2004 which set out in black and white that Russia had complied with previously agreed inventory obligations relating to the Black Sea Fleet's facilities and equipment in the Crimea.
"Therefore, no matter what the pretext may be, whether it be the inventory of equipment or a Ukrainian court's decision, it doesn't bear scrutiny," Dygalo said.
Dygalo added that the countries had reached agreement on inventory procedures at the fifth session of the subcommission on the Black Sea Fleet in 2003. "These terms satisfied both sides and were fixed in an official protocol," he added.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet leases the base of Sevastopol in the Crimea. Although Russia and Ukraine have an agreement under which Russia will lease the base until 2017, some Ukrainian politicians called for 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 international market levels.
