Moscow wants to keep its Navy base in Ukraine

Russia's deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin said in a statement that his country had no intention to withdraw the Russian Navy base from the Ukrainian port of Sevostopol. At the same time, the official admitted that it was up to Ukraine to make a final decision. Under the Ukraine-Russia agreement, the Russian Navy is allowed to stay on the territory of Ukraine by 2017. The Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last year that the Russians wanted to sign a new deal to extend the stay of the Russian troops after 2017. Ukraine agrees to let the Russians stay till 2017. At the same time, Kiev is pushing Moscow to start preparing the pull-out already now.