Ukraine Bars Entry To Russian Nationalist Lawmaker For Undermining National Independence

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine barred entry to a Russian nationalist lawmaker over his remarks and actions that the government says undermine the country's independence, officials said Friday.

Konstantin Zatulin
The move is the latest step in an escalating dispute between Moscow and Kiev over Ukraine's efforts to join NATO and integrate with the West and the future presence of a Russian naval fleet in a Ukrainian port.

Konstantin Zatulin was denied entry to Ukraine for one year on Thursday, said Serhiy Astakhov, a spokesman for the State Border service.

Zatulin flew to the city of Simferopol on the Crimean Peninsula as Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is renting a naval base in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol, was preparing to celebrate Russia's Navy Day. He was denied entry and had to spend the night at the airport.

Zatulin says he came to Ukraine to attend a tennis tournament. But Ukraine's national security service believes he was planning to sabotage celebrations of the 1,020th anniversary of Ukraine's and Russia's conversion to Christianity, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a source at the agency. The agency declined immediate comment

Ukrainian authorities are hoping to use the celebrations to push for recognition of the local Orthodox church as independent from the powerful Moscow patriarchate.

Zatulin had been declared persona non grata in Ukraine in the past over his participation in anti-NATO protests in the Crimea. Earlier this year Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was also barred from Ukraine for suggesting that Sevastopol belongs to Russia.

The Crimean peninsula was for centuries part of the Russian empire and then of Soviet Russia. In 1954, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev awarded it to Soviet Ukraine, where he lived and ruled for many years.

After the 1991 Soviet collapse, the Crimea became part of an independent Ukraine, causing a lot of discontent in Russia and among local residents, many of whom are ethnic Russians.

The lease agreement for the Russian fleet expires in 2017 and Ukrainian leaders have indicated they want the Russian ships out after that. Moscow, however, has been pushing to prolong the agreement and offered to pay more.

Source: International Herald Tribune