Ukraine Demands Russia's FSB Officers Out Of Crimea

SEVASTOPOL (RFE/RL) -- Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers who are working with the Black Sea Fleet must leave Ukraine by December 13, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

There are currently 19 FSB officers on the staff of the Black Sea Fleet, which is located in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol in Crimea.

Ukrainian National Security Council Deputy Secretary Volodymyr Ohryzko said Russian statements on the need to have its intelligence officers on Ukrainian territory show a "lack of respect to the country that hosts its Black Sea Fleet."

FSB officers joined the Black Sea Fleet in 2000 to allegedly provide security for Russian sailors.

Ukrainian State Security Service (SBU) chief Valentyn Nalivaychenko says the Russian sailors' security is under the control of the SBU's military counterintelligence departments in the Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol.