MOSCOW, July 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine's attempts to exclude Russia from the Black Sea Naval Force (BlackSeaFor) have failed, a military source has said.

"The Kiev authorities' attempts to garner the BlackSeaFor member-countries' support for its anti-Russian initiative failed. No BlackSeaFor state has upheld this initiative," the source told ITAR-TASS on Friday.

“From May to June the Ukrainian authorities were sending their envoys to Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia for holding talks with their military and political leaders. Ukraine’s staff in Sofia, Bucharest, Ankara and Tbilisi were running around government offices. However, the attempts were vain,” it said.

“The BlackSeaFor countries’ position was to preserve status quo, i.e. the existing format with Russia’s participation. Ukraine was informed about the BlackSeaFor member-states’ view to freeze the organisation’s activity until the situation in Ukraine normalises,” the source said.

The Black Sea Naval Force was created in early 2001 on the initiative of Turkey with the participation of other littoral states - Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia. The founding agreement was signed in Istanbul on April 2, 2001.

The BlackSeaFor’s purpose is to promote security and stability in the Black Sea maritime area and beyond, to strengthen friendly and good-neighbourly relations, and increase interoperability among the member-states.