Kiev - Ukraine has lodged criminal proceedings against the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Alexander Vikto.
Vikto will be charged with abetting "the betrayal of the country" and "organising sabotages", Ukrainian Prosecutor General Maher Magnitsky said on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian defence ministry claimed Vikto on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to the Ukrainian troops, asking them to surrender or they would face Russian troops' attack.
The commander of the Black Sea Fleet said in response that Ukraine's claim was "pure nonsense" and Russia "was used to Ukraine's absurd accusations".
Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based in Sevastopol, the western city port of Ukraine's autonomous republic of Crimea, which has become the epicentre of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine since President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted by the parliament on February 22.
Since the outbreak of the Crimea crisis, the Ukrainian government and military have been accusing Russia of deteriorating the situation by increasing troops in Crimea.
According to the Ukrainian defence ministry, Russia has sent some 5 500 special task troops into Ukraine, and currently there is a total of 16 000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine, including the Black Sea Fleet, which "rudely breached" the pact between the two countries on the Black Sea Fleet naval base in Ukraine.
But a Russian military expert said on Tuesday that current Russian troop movements in Crimea was nothing unusual and could not be described as aggression.
Moscow had a right to deploy up to 25 000 troops in Crimea in line with agreements signed with Kiev as long ago as the mid-1990s. Currently, there are only 18 000, Vladimir Kozin, of the Russian Strategic Research Institute said.
"Those troops have been deployed there long before the recent events. And they may legally stay there until 2042. So they pose no threat to Ukraine," said Kozin.
All Russian troops deployed in Crimea were attached to the Black Sea Fleet, in accordance with agreements signed between Moscow and Kiev following the breakup of the Soviet Union, he added.
According to the agreements, Russia has a right to move its personnel between its coastal facilities, for example from Kerch to Sevastopol in Crimea.
In Sevastopol, both Ukraine and Russia possess military naval bases. Two Ukrainian ships were seen anchored at Streletskiy Bay on Wednesday and blocked by Russian vessels. – SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua
