Ukrainian welcome parade for NATO's soldiers

Russia Angry About NATO Exercise on Crimea

Russia says the manoeuvres are a provocation of the mainly Russian population living on the Crimea.

The Russian Defence Minister, Igor Sergeyev, denounced the joint NATO-Ukraine naval manoeuvres, while a group of deputies threatened to call for Russia's withdrawal from the Partnership for Peace programme.

The week-long joint NATO-Ukrainian exercise is codenamed "Sea Breeze 97" and involves troops from Ukraine, Georgia, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as the United States and Turkey. The soldiers simulate a humanitarian operation following an earthquake.

Only this year Ukraine and Russia settled their dispute over the Black Sea Fleet

Ukraine has taken part in exercises with NATO before, under the Alliance's Partnership for Peace programme, but what makes this one so sensitive is that the NATO vessels are starting off from the Crimean Peninsula. Crimea was a part of Russia until 1954, when the then Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, gave it to Ukraine to mark the 300th anniversary of the republic's union with Russia.

At the time, this meant simply a minor administrative adjustment. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Crimea took on a new significance, as the population of the peninsula is largely Russian.

Relations between Russian and Ukraine were made more difficult by a dispute over dividing the Black Sea Fleet between the two countries.

NATO has been at pains to make "Sea Breeze 97" appear as unthreatening as possible. The scenario is that an earthquake has taken place in the mythical Orange republic, and the forces are to co-ordinate a joint humanitarian aid operation. Russia was invited to take part but declined.

Given Russia's opposition to NATO enlargement, the Kremlin was bound to protest about any moves which could be regarded by Russian nationalists as menacing, even though the country is a member of the Partnership for Peace programme. In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said its forces would not participate in the exercises, nor would it send any observers.

A Russian defence ministry spokesman said: "The holding of these exercises in the waters of the black sea is unjustified and will not help build international confidence."

About 2,000 people on Crimea protested against the exercise. The crowd gathered at a monument to Soviet soldiers who died during World War II. They held makeshift banners with slogans like "NATO boots off Crimea" and "Don't threaten us with NATO".

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• NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme
• Military News Bulletin of the Voyeninform Agency of the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation