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Official Kyiv bans visit of Moscow mayor to Ukraine

12 May 2008 11:41 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow’s mayor has made strong calls for the disputed ownership of a Russian naval base on Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula to be transferred back to Russia.
"This issue remains unresolved. We will resolve it for the sake of our state interests, for the sake of the lawful right that Russia has to the naval base of Sevastopol," Yury Luzhkov said on Sunday during celebrations in Sevastopol to mark the Black Sea Fleet’s 225th anniversary.
According to Luzhkov, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave the Crimea to Ukraine in 1954 as "a token of brotherly love," but under a 1948 decree Sevastopol was assigned special city status "under the governing central authorities," and, therefore, could not be included in the list of territories transferred to Ukraine.