TAMAN, Southern Russia -- Less than 24 hours after a deal to halt the construction of a Russian dam off the tiny island of Tuzla, State Duma Deputy Dmitry Rogozin raised temperatures again, calling for a "road of friendship" across the Kerch Strait, which separates Russia and Ukraine.
Flanked by uniformed Cossacks at the end of the muddy, 4-kilometer earth dam built toward Tuzla, a windswept Rogozin told television cameras Saturday that locals on both sides of the Sea of Azov wanted the two countries to be connected through the Kerch Strait.
"Ukraine should be building [a dam to Tuzla] from its side," he said. "We are building a road of friendship."
Citing what he said was international maritime law, Rogozin, the chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs and the No. 2 in Sergei Glazyev's Homeland bloc, said that Ukraine had no right to declare a border in the Sea of Azov.
"The Sea of Azov should be internal waters for both Russia and Ukraine," he said. "Passage through the Kerch Strait should be absolutely free."
Rogozin walked through muddy earth to the water's edge and waved at 10 Ukrainian border guards standing on pontoons 200 meters away, blocking the dam's progress toward the island. The guards ignored Rogozin and kept their hands at their sides.
Rogozin traveled to the Kerch Strait to support the dam's construction a day after Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, agreed terms to reduce political tension surrounding the dam's construction.
Kasyanov said after the talks that the dam would not be extended any further toward Tuzla in exchange for the removal of Ukrainian border guards from the island.
Construction of the earth dam, which began on Sept. 29, alarmed Ukrainian officials as it approached Tuzla, which both Ukrainian and Krasnodar region officials claim as their own.
Although the dam had halted some 320 meters offshore, Ukrainian border guards were still on active duty on the island, Interfax-Ukraine cited Ukrainian border patrol spokesman Anatoly Samarchenko as saying Sunday.
Samarchenko said Ukrainian officials from the Crimea region were expected to meet with Krasnodar officials Monday to try to stabilize the situation on a regional level.
Before talking to reporters at the Taman rally, Rogozin invited two scruffy Cossack volunteers to stand next to him for the cameras.
"You're the bosses around here," he told them.
According to uniformed Cossack Alexander Tokhchukov, who had been on the dam for four days, the Cossacks are there to "keep order and prevent anything from interfering with construction." Construction on Saturday mostly consisted of reinforcing the dam with rocks and earth to prevent rapid erosion.
Two days earlier, Krasnodar Governor Alexander Tkachyov said in a speech at the end of the dam, "This land is drenched in Cossack blood."
After Rogozin returned to the mainland, three busloads of students in yellow Homeland bloc T-shirts were brought in for a political rally in support of the dam.
"We are here to stand up against this hysteria [surrounding the dam]," Rogozin said over a microphone to hurrahs from the crowd.
The rally took on a farcical air when the students released "peace doves" -- intended to show the peaceful intentions behind the dam's construction -- which had been trucked in from Krasnodar in cages.
Apparently tired from being cooped up during the three-hour ride, many of the mangy-looking birds flew up about 3 meters before flopping to the ground.
Also detracting from the gesture was a comment by someone in the crowd deriding a black dove that landed near Rogozin's feet as "a Ukrainian bird."
The students held banners reading "We Are Building a Peace Bridge," and "Russia Is Not Ukraine," a reference to the title of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's recent book, "Ukraine Is Not Russia."
During Rogozin's bus ride to the end of the dam, one reporter's mobile telephone provider appeared to dispute the claim that even the dam was Russian territory.
Near the midway point of the dam, his cellphone automatically switched over to a Ukrainian provider and "Welcome to Ukraine!" flashed across the screen.
Flanked by uniformed Cossacks at the end of the muddy, 4-kilometer earth dam built toward Tuzla, a windswept Rogozin told television cameras Saturday that locals on both sides of the Sea of Azov wanted the two countries to be connected through the Kerch Strait.
"Ukraine should be building [a dam to Tuzla] from its side," he said. "We are building a road of friendship."
Citing what he said was international maritime law, Rogozin, the chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs and the No. 2 in Sergei Glazyev's Homeland bloc, said that Ukraine had no right to declare a border in the Sea of Azov.
"The Sea of Azov should be internal waters for both Russia and Ukraine," he said. "Passage through the Kerch Strait should be absolutely free."
Rogozin walked through muddy earth to the water's edge and waved at 10 Ukrainian border guards standing on pontoons 200 meters away, blocking the dam's progress toward the island. The guards ignored Rogozin and kept their hands at their sides.
Rogozin traveled to the Kerch Strait to support the dam's construction a day after Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, agreed terms to reduce political tension surrounding the dam's construction.
Kasyanov said after the talks that the dam would not be extended any further toward Tuzla in exchange for the removal of Ukrainian border guards from the island.
Construction of the earth dam, which began on Sept. 29, alarmed Ukrainian officials as it approached Tuzla, which both Ukrainian and Krasnodar region officials claim as their own.
Although the dam had halted some 320 meters offshore, Ukrainian border guards were still on active duty on the island, Interfax-Ukraine cited Ukrainian border patrol spokesman Anatoly Samarchenko as saying Sunday.
Samarchenko said Ukrainian officials from the Crimea region were expected to meet with Krasnodar officials Monday to try to stabilize the situation on a regional level.
Before talking to reporters at the Taman rally, Rogozin invited two scruffy Cossack volunteers to stand next to him for the cameras.
"You're the bosses around here," he told them.
According to uniformed Cossack Alexander Tokhchukov, who had been on the dam for four days, the Cossacks are there to "keep order and prevent anything from interfering with construction." Construction on Saturday mostly consisted of reinforcing the dam with rocks and earth to prevent rapid erosion.
Two days earlier, Krasnodar Governor Alexander Tkachyov said in a speech at the end of the dam, "This land is drenched in Cossack blood."
After Rogozin returned to the mainland, three busloads of students in yellow Homeland bloc T-shirts were brought in for a political rally in support of the dam.
"We are here to stand up against this hysteria [surrounding the dam]," Rogozin said over a microphone to hurrahs from the crowd.
The rally took on a farcical air when the students released "peace doves" -- intended to show the peaceful intentions behind the dam's construction -- which had been trucked in from Krasnodar in cages.
Apparently tired from being cooped up during the three-hour ride, many of the mangy-looking birds flew up about 3 meters before flopping to the ground.
Also detracting from the gesture was a comment by someone in the crowd deriding a black dove that landed near Rogozin's feet as "a Ukrainian bird."
The students held banners reading "We Are Building a Peace Bridge," and "Russia Is Not Ukraine," a reference to the title of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's recent book, "Ukraine Is Not Russia."
During Rogozin's bus ride to the end of the dam, one reporter's mobile telephone provider appeared to dispute the claim that even the dam was Russian territory.
Near the midway point of the dam, his cellphone automatically switched over to a Ukrainian provider and "Welcome to Ukraine!" flashed across the screen.
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