Russia halts dike construction near Ukraine's waters

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 24, 2003

Russia halts dike construction near Ukraine's waters

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Russia Thursday suspended construction of a dam near Ukraine's territorial waters, which had triggered border disputes with its former Soviet neighbor, Ukrainian Interfax News Agency quoted a senior office from Ukraine's border service as saying.

At the suggestion of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, workers stopped the construction work at around 4:10 p.m. local time (1310 GMT) in the Kerch Strait that connects the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, the report said.

The Kerch Strait runs between Russia's Taman peninsula and a 7-kilometer long island called Tuzla, which Kiev claims is Ukrainian territory.

Cutting short a foreign trip on Thursday, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma flew by helicopter to inspect the Ukrainian border troops guarding Tuzla island. During his visit, Russian workers continued the construction work and defied the call from Kasyanov.

Speaking to reporters in the Crimean city of Kerch after his visit to the island, Kuchma said that the Kerch Strait "must remain Ukrainian," and that his country is following the dike closely.

Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, Thursday criticized Kasyanov's call for halting the construction of the dike, saying the project has political significance as well as ecological benefits.

At a meeting on national security on Tuesday, the Ukrainian government decided that if the dike goes beyond the Russia-Ukraine border, Ukraine would stop participation in building a common economic zone with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Ukraine would also seek help from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice should the dike breach its border.

Russia started building a dam on Sept. 29, and said the project was aimed to protect the local ecological environment.

By 5:30 a.m. local time (1430 GMT), the dam was about 109 meters from the Ukraine-Russia border, Ukrainian border guards said Thursday.

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