Ukraine to extend Russia naval base lease, pay less for natural gas

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Source: WaPo

MOSCOW -- Ukraine's new president signed a deal Wednesday that allows Russia's Black Sea Fleet to stay in the country another 25 years, moving to ease a long-standing source of tension and giving Moscow its second foreign policy victory in the former Soviet Union this month.

Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, announced the breakthrough after a hastily scheduled summit in Kharkiv, Ukraine, saying that Ukraine will extend the lease on the Russian naval base in Sevastopol to 2042 in exchange for a steep discount on purchases of Russian natural gas.

"These issues are directly and unequivocally combined in the agreement," Medvedev said, describing the pact as "one of the first projects on the path of restoring good, neighborly relations between our countries."

Yanukovych's decision reverses the policy of his predecessor, who had vowed to expel the Russian fleet in 2017, when its current lease expires, and is the strongest sign yet that he will bring Ukraine closer to Russia after a five-year tilt toward the West.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/21/AR2010042103836.html

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Let's make a deal ..