The Ukrainian authorities have barred Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov from entering the country after he said the port of Sevastopol did not belong to Ukraine.

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Speaking in Sevastopol on Sunday, Mr Luzhkov said the city "was not among" areas transferred to Ukraine in 1954.

The Russian-majority Crimean city is the base of the Black Sea Fleet.

Crimea was transferred to Ukraine by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1954, when Russia and Ukraine formed part of the Soviet Union.

Mr Luzhkov said that in 1948, Sevastopol "was set apart as a city subordinated to the state" - in other words, governed from Moscow, not Kiev.

He said he would pursue the matter with the Russian government and parliament, and suggested that an international court should decide on the city's status.

He was speaking at a ceremony marking the 225th anniversary of the Black Sea Fleet.

The future of the fleet remains a bone of contention between Russia and Ukraine, whose relations have soured over Ukraine's ambition to join Nato.

The fleet's lease on Sevastopol expires in 2017 and Ukraine wants Russia to withdraw its navy from Ukrainian territory before then.

(BBC)

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