Ukraine traffic cops ticket Russian navy cruise missile lorries

Jul 10, 2009, 11:06 GMT

Kiev - Ukrainian traffic cops ticketed Russian navy personnel for driving lorries loaded with cruise missiles along city streets without a proper permits, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.

The Wednesday conflict initially reported by the Ukrainian nationalist web site www.Flot17.com took place in the city of Sevastopol, a Crimean peninsula port.

A column of three Russian Navy Kraz lorries carrying P-120 Malakhit anti-ship cruise missiles, had been traveling down a Sevastopol main avenue when stopped by the Ukrainian cops.

The Ukrainian police cited the Russian navy personnel for transporting dangerous freight through a populated area without a permit, and for operating unregistered vehicles on Ukrainian roads.

The P-120 Malakhit missile (NATO reporting name: SS-N-Siren) weighs three tonnes, measures 9 metres long, and contains a half-ton explosive warhead.

The Russians accepted the citations and returned to a dockside base area later in the day, without further incident, according to the report.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet has basing rights in the Ukrainian city Sevastopol per the terms of a 1997 treaty between Kiev and the Kremlin.

Conflict between Moscow and Ukraine over the Russian force presence in Ukraine has spiked since 2005 and control of Ukraine's government by pro-Europe politicians.

Kremlin unwillingness to inform the Ukrainian government of military personnel and equipment brought to Russian bases throughout Crimea, or to give Kiev prior warning of planned Russian force movements, is a long-running Ukrainian complaint.

Elements of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in August 2008 sortied from Sevastopol to participate in the South Ossetia War. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at the time called the operations 'criminal,' arguing the 1997 treaty banned combat operations against a third nation.

Russian officials routinely reject the Ukrainian claims, saying by treaty terms Russia may use forces it deploys to bases rented from Ukraine, as it sees fit.

Ukraine's Crimea peninsula is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Russians, with ethnic Ukrainian and ethnic Tartar minorities.

Russian nationalist politicians have argued the region should be controlled by Russia, not Ukraine - a claim seen by Ukrainian nationalists as a direct challenge to Ukrainian national sovereignty.