Mutiny may scupper navy deal
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Your support makes all the difference.THE commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Igor Kasatonov, warned yesterday that he would take 'resolute and adequate measures' against the Ukrainian mutineers who seized one of the fleet's coastguard cutters and replaced the old Soviet navy ensign with the Ukrainian flag.
The mutineers seized the small vessel, Escort Ship Number 815, on Tuesday in the port of Donuzlav, which is controlled by the Commonwealth of Independent States, and sailed it to Odessa, which is controlled by the Ukrainian navy. Last night the ship stood at anchor off Odessa.
In a statement issued in Sevastopol, the headquarters of the fleet, Admiral Kasatonov protested that the Ukrainian navy had resorted to 'snatching ships from the fleets' and making the crews swear allegiance to Ukraine.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine each laid claim to the 300-odd ships of the Black Sea Fleet as their own, but recently they have been trying, so far without success, to find a way of dividing up the ships between them.
The mutiny of Escort Ship Number 815 threatens to scupper the talks. The Russian leader, Boris Yeltsin, said he would have to hold another meeting with with the Ukrainian leader, Leonid Kravchuk, to discuss the action.
The Itar-Tass news agency reported that feelings among sailors loyal to the CIS navy in Sevastopol were running high and this could result in armed conflict if the matter was not resolved quickly.
Ukrainian officials tried to play down the incident. The Ukrainian navy chief, Rear-Admiral Boris Kozhin, boarded the vessel in Odessa to talk to the crew, and said the vessel could stay in the port. A spokesman for the Ukrainian navy said the crew of 815 had complained of humiliating treatment by officers from the Commonwealth navy. They said they had been banned from reading Ukrainian-language newspapers, intimidated after taking an oath to Ukraine and their families had been deprived of social services.
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