Pinned to his wall was a map of the USSR above the desk a portrait of Lenin. His association did not believe in separatism, he explained, but was opposed to any attempt to remove the Soviet memorials that adorn the town's hilly streets. But frankly we don't want you here either.' Not the Americans, not the French and not the Turks," he said. "We categorically don't want other vessels here. According to Kalenko, locals would resist any attempt to turf out the Russian fleet, especially if Nato ships would occupy the base instead. "The majority of the population here supports the presence of the Black Sea fleet," said Anatoly Kalenko, chairman of Sevastopol's veterans' association, and a former nuclear submarine commander. They waved Russian flags and banners one read: "We are proud of you." Last week, several hundred locals turned out to welcome the Moskva on its return from Georgia. It is also vehemently opposed to Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko and his plans to join Nato. On the streets of Sevastopol, the mood is defiantly pro-Russian. Kiev fears a row over the use of the base could be used to stir up separatist sentiments, with Crimea seceding from Ukraine in a referendum. The fear is that - like South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the breakaway regions of Georgia recognised by Moscow as independent - it could become the target of Russian ambitions.Įarlier this month Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of distributing passports to ethnic Russians in Crimea, who make up more than half of its two-million population. But after last month's war in Georgia the peninsula is at the centre of growing speculation.
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