KIEV, July 19 – Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, who was persona non grata in Ukraine for two years after asserting that Sevastopol must be returned to Russia, said Monday he still believes so.

“I made my statements on Sevastopol thoughtfully and it was well grounded,” Luzhkov said at a press conference in Moscow, Interfax reported. “There is no change in my position on the status of Sevastopol, and there will be none.”

Luzhkov’s comments come less than a month after President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian figure, lifted the two-year ban on Luzhkov’s entry to Ukraine.

The ban was slapped by the SBU security service in May 2008 under then President Viktor Yushchenko after Luzhkov had publically claimed that Sevastopol, a Ukrainian port harboring Russian naval fleet, is actually the Russian city.