You're reading: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet to demand return of money paid to Ukrainian customs service

Ukraine has unjustifiably collected over $70 million in the form of customs payments for cargo used for the maintenance of Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea over several years, a defense diplomatic source told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.

“Starting from 2008, from $11 million to $15 million were collected per year from Black Sea Fleet for customs clearance of cargo without legal grounds. This concerns a sum of over $70 million,” the source said.

He said that Russia applied to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office to settle the issue. The demand to return the funds has been put forward, he said.

“One of the options to pay the sum is to send funds from the Ukrainian budget to the social and economic development of Sevastopol,” he said.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Interfax that the said position was unjustifiable first of all from the point of view of the law.

Russia pays both customs duties and value added tax when importing cargo to Ukraine that is intended for the maintenance of its Black Sea Fleet.

In April 2013, a representative of the Black Sea Fleet told Interfax-AVN that Russia plans to refuel Black Sea Fleet ships outside the territorial waters of Ukraine, which will allow it to save several million U.S. dollars.