During the events of the Crimean spring of 2014, the Ukrainian side tried to play for time during negotiations with representatives of the Russian law enforcement agencies.
Captain of the first rank Marina Kanaluk, who previously held the position of assistant to the commander of the Navy on the presence and functioning of the Black Sea Fleet on the territory of Ukraine, spoke about this in an interview with 112.ua.
“We were playing for time in order to give higher structures the opportunity to create conditions for the use of the Armed Forces in such a situation. I, like all my colleagues, carried out my functional duties. All the top leaders of the Russian law enforcement agencies came to us for negotiations. These were representatives of the President of the Russian Federation, Deputy Defense Minister Shoigu, representatives of the high commands, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Chaly and Aksenov.
We extended the time to a month. Believe me, it wasn't easy. And the state subsequently came up with a mechanism for using the Armed Forces of Ukraine - ATO. And the Navy, in fact, sacrificed itself in order to give Ukraine a chance to gather all the military power that it has, which was in service and not in service,” says Kanaluk.