| [Tags**|crimea, guardian, nato, uk]The Guardian** Luke Harding in SevastopolTuesday, September 16, 2008_Tensions have risen since the war in Georgia and Kiev's plans to join Nato_From his giant monument overlooking Sevastopol, Vladimir Lenin gazes dreamily out towards the Black Sea.In the harbour, elderly ladies in floral swimming costumes bob in the warm lilac water. Shimmering in the distance is the grey Russian battleship Moskva, framed by steep chalky-coloured mountains. The port of Sevastopol on Crimea's rocky southern coast is the historic home of Russia's Black Sea fleet. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Ukraine allowed Russia to lease Sevastopol as a military base until 2017.But after last month's war in Georgia the peninsula is at the centre of growing speculation. The fear is that - like South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the breakaway regions of Georgia recognised by Moscow as independent - it could become the target of Russian ambitions.( Read more...Collapse ) |
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