Ukraine traffic police halt Russia army lorries, missiles

Nov 3, 2009, 13:04 GMT

   Kiev - Ukrainian traffic police halted a Russian army lorry column reportedly loaded with cruise missiles, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.

   The stand-off took place in the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol after Ukrainian officials stopped and ticketed Russian service personnel for operating military vehicles in an urban area without proper permits.

   The Russian military unit - two lorries towing covered trailers and some two dozen soldiers - initially stood its ground, interfering with civilian traffic, the website Korrespondent reported.    The trailers were loaded with anti-ship cruise missiles, Korrespondent said, citing eyewitnesses.

   Senior Russian naval officers arriving on the scene discussed the conflict with the Ukrainian traffic police, and, after an hour's delay, the lorries and Russian service personnel returned to the nearby fleet headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, local media reported.    Officials at Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, contacted by telephone, declined to comment on the incident, citing lack of information about the morning incident.

   Last week, in a similar incident, Sevastopol traffic police turned back Russian marines attempting to drive a pair of armoured personnel carriers through city streets.

   The Kremlin leases shore installations in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula to provide a home port for Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

    A Russo-Ukrainian treaty signed in 1997 gives Russia naval basing rights in Sevastopol until 2017. But Moscow and Kiev disagree on whether Russian military units stationed at the fleet base may move freely on Ukrainian roads.

   Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko last year ordered tightened security around Russian military installations after Russian naval forces based in Sevastopol in August 2008 participated in a conflict with Georgia, a former Soviet republic friendly with Ukraine.