KIEV, July 23 – Russia stepped up maneuvering of its Black Sea Fleet forces in Sevastopol, including relocating cruise missiles and armored personnel vehicles, escalating tensions with Ukraine in a region dominated by ethnic Russians.

Ukraine’s police on Thursday stopped a convoy of BSF trucks – for the third time over the past four weeks - carrying Mirage cruise missiles across Sevastopol. Police said the movement of the missiles was not agreed with the Ukrainian authorities.

Also on Thursday, police stopped a convoy of Russian armored personnel carriers that was about to enter Sevastopol, allegedly for rehearsal of a military parade that the BSF plans to hold July 26.

The incidents dangerously escalated tensions between Russia and Ukraine in a sensitive region that is dominated by ethnic Russians and come amid increasingly assertive foreign policy by Moscow.

Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a special statement on Thursday calling on the BSF “against violating mutual agreements on BSF stationing on the Ukrainian territory and the Ukrainian law.”

Ukraine insists that any relocation of BSF troops or military hardware must be agreed by the Ukrainian authorities.

Russia, however, maintains that the movement of personnel and equipment has been in line with the agreement, according to which the BSF is supposed to stay in Sevastopol through 2017.

Russia celebrates its Navy Day on July 26 and plans to hold a military parade in Sevastopol, the city that is frequently referred to by Russian politicians as “the city of the Russian naval glory.”

Russia, for the first time since the 20-year BSF stationing agreement was signed in 1997, asked Ukraine for permission to hold the military parade in the city. According to Russia’s plan, a convoy of Russian armored personnel carriers was supposed to parade through Sevastopol, along with other troops.

Ukraine has not yet given its official permission for the parade.

Sevastopol, and Crimea, Ukraine’s autonomous region, is seen by analysts as an area where Russia and Ukraine may clash in a potential confrontation.

Ukraine, which sees the BSF base in Sevastopol as a potential threat to domestic stability, has indicated that it will not extend the agreement and will insist on the BSF relocating to the Russian territory after 2017.

Russia, however, has been seeking to extend its stay in Sevastopol for political reasons, but also as infrastructure in Novorosiisk, a huge Russian port on the Black Sea, was yet ready to accommodate the BSF.

The plans for Russian naval parade in Sevastopol come amid increasing activities of other Russian parties and organizations in the same area, including the visit by Patriarch Kiril, the head of the Moscow Orthodox Christian Church, to Crimea on July 27.

“Patriarch Kiril’s speeches and statements concerning Ukraine confirm that he is coming to us not only to hold service and to pray. He is coming to promote political project of Ukraine’s integration into Russia, to promote return to the unity under the Kremlin rule,” Patriarch Filaret, the leader of the Kiev Orthodox Christian Church, said in a statement. (tl/ez)