KIEV, February 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia does not intend to make any concessions on the rent it is paying for the use of Black Sea Fleet facilities in Ukraine, a senior official said Tuesday.
Grigory Karasin, a Russian deputy foreign minister, said the basic 1997 agreement on the Black Sea Fleet fixed a rent that corresponded to international standards in full.
"The basic agreement on the Black Sea Fleet stipulates a fixed rent, which fully conforms to international norms. We assume the rent is not subject to change," Karasin said after a session of the joint Russian-Ukrainian subcommittee for the Black Sea Fleet held in the Ukrainian capital.
The delegations, headed by deputy foreign ministers from Russia and Ukraine, Grigory Karasin and Volodymyr Ogryzko, met in Kiev today to discuss the situation involving the Yalta lighthouse and all other issues essential for the normal functioning of the Black Sea Fleet.
When asked whether Ukraine was going to revise the rent, Ogryzko said: "We will gradually move step by step."
A series of incidents involving the Russian fleet and its facilities have marred bilateral relations recently. On January 14, Ukrainian officials seized a lighthouse belonging to the Black Sea Fleet in a move that many Russian politicians saw as a response to the heated dispute between the neighboring countries over natural gas prices. Russian energy giant Gazprom turned off supplies to Ukraine January 1 after the latter refused to pay market prices for Russian gas. The dispute officially ended January 4 with the signing of an agreement, but tensions have continued.
