Pro-Moscow administration seeks Russian military base in Kherson

Moscow, May 24 (EFE).- The authorities in Kherson have sought a Russian military base to guarantee the security of the Russia-controlled region in Ukraine, the RIA news agency reported Tuesday, citing a local government official.

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the so-called “civil-military regional administration” of Kherson, said the authorities would ask Russia to set up a military base in the region.

He said the Kherson “population wants it because it is important” and would “become a guarantor of the security for the region and its inhabitants.”

The Russian Army seized the control of Kherson in mid-March, weeks after Moscow invaded Ukraine in what the Kremlin says is a “special military operation.”

The region is adjacent to the Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.

Russia has installed, what it calls, a civil-military administration in Kherson after the military seized the region.

“There should be a Russian military base in the Kherson region,” Stremousov told the news agency.

Stremoúsov claimed that the Russian Army was protecting Kherson from the constant attempts of Ukrainian nationalists to attack villages and cities of the region.

Local authorities had earlier accused the Ukrainian military of bombing the region from neighboring Mykolaiv.

Ukraine has allegedly disconnected mobile phone services and stopped paying pensions to local retirees.

The pro-Russian regional administration has, on several occasions, expressed the willingness to join Russia.

However, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said the issue must be decided by residents through a referendum like in the case of Crimea, RIA reported. EFE

mos/ssk