Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused Russia's Black Sea Fleet of violating key portions of a treaty between the two countries. A 1997 agreement allows Russia to base its Black Sea fleet in the Ukrainian port city Sevastopol and its environs until 2017. Russian navy units are, however, failing to live up to treaty terms regulating ecological protection, and are refusing to turn over some Russian-run shore installations to Ukraine, Foreign Ministry spokesman Dmitro Svistkiv said in a formal statement. Russian warship crews regularly dump polluted bilge water into Sevastopol harbour, and at times have spilled dozens of tonnes of fuel and other pollutants into Ukrainian waters, Svistkiv said. Russia's Black Sea Fleet command in addition refuses to hand over to Ukraine shore-based ship navigation installations, as Moscow promised in the 1997 treaty, he said. Use of seashore and housing rented by Russian naval command to operate summer resorts to earn income from tourists rather than for military purposes as specified in the treaty was another problem alleged by Svitskiv. --More 2333 Local Time 2033 GMT
