Sevastopol MPs call on national parliament to ratify Black Sea Fleet agreement.

KIEV, April 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Lawmakers of the Sevastopol City Council
on Saturday called on Ukraine's national parliament, the Verkhovna Rada,
to ratify the just-signed Russian-Ukrainian agreement of the Russian Black
Sea Fleet.
"The ratification of the agreement on the Russian Black Seat Fleet in
Ukraine signed by presidents of Russia and Ukraine will secure lasting
political stability in the region and will allow to build long-term
political relations between the two countries," the lawmakers said in
their address voted unanimously by the Council's 57 lawmakers.
According to the document, "the extension of the term of Russia's
Black Sea Fleet stay in Sevastopol will become a basic factor in shaping
the European collective security system."
"The Black Sea Fleet will be a guarantor of security of Black Sea
states. Both Ukraine, and Russia, and other Black Sea countries are
interested in it," the document stressed.
It reminded that enterprises serving the fleet employ some 20,000
Sevastopol residents, and if the fleet stays in the city, the jobs will be
preserved and new jobs will be created, making the city residents feel
safe about the future.
"Sevastopol is in the focus of relations between Ukraine and Russia,
and we have an opportunity to show how to build these relations," the
address said. "In Sevastopol, where the cultural and spiritual life of the
two countries is closely interrelated, the ratification will be welcomed
by the overwhelming majority of residents."
The two parliaments, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the State Duma
of Russia, are expected to ratify the agreement simultaneously on April
27. The Ukrainian opposition, however, promised to block the ratification.