Russia says fleet is no threat to Ukraine

SEVASTOPOL , Ukraine, May 28 (UPI) -- A top Russian official said Wednesday that its Black Sea fleet based in the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol poses no threat to Ukraine's national security.

"The Black Sea fleet has not caused a single incident during its stay on Ukrainian territory that might have posed a threat to the country's national security," the Russian Foreign Ministry's Vladimir Dorokhin told RIA Novosti.

Russia pays around $100 million per year to Ukraine to lease naval facilities on the Crimean peninsula under an agreement signed in 1997.

Russian and Ukraine have been at odds over the lease. The Ukrainian government prohibited Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov from entering the country recently due to his claims the naval base in Sevastopol should be transferred back to Russian ownership.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said the lease shouldn't extend beyond 2017, however, Dorokhin says Russia would like to continue the lease.