Experts cite Sevastopol developments as issue of serious international concern (12/15/96)

Experts cite Sevastopol developments as issue of serious international concern

by R.L. Chomiak
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Ukraine's main representative in the United States called it "serious aggravation of the situation." Leading American experts agreed. Zbigniew Brzezinski called it "a very serious concern" of which "the international community should be cognizant," and Ilya Prizel of Johns Hopkins University characterized it as an "issue far more serious than it may seem."

The issue was the latest moves by Russia's two top legislative bodies - the State Duma and the Federation Council - to claim the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol for Russia and the city's huge naval facility exclusively for the Russian navy. It was the topic of a roundtable discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington on December 10.

Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, led off the discussion. He came with political and military experts from his staff, with documents and statements from his government, and with overhead projection slides to reinforce Ukraine's case that the latest Russian moves are "a gross violation of the fundamentals of international law [and] encroachment on the sovereignty of Ukraine."

He appealed to the world community to take all measures in order to convince Russia that the path of territorial claims is counterproductive. He also assured the audience that the leadership in Ukraine is taking the situation "very seriously," but approaching it "with extreme care." To show that the government of President Leonid Kuchma and the Parliament are united on this issue, he mentioned that the Verkhovna Rada has drafted legislation on the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine is willing to share the naval facilities in Sevastopol with Russia on a temporary basis, and negotiations about this have been moving along for more than four years. What has changed this fall is that the Russian Duma passed legislation to stop the division of the old Soviet Black Sea Fleet between Ukraine and Russia (October 16) and the Federation Council, the upper body of the Russian Parliament, declared that Sevastopol is a Russian city (December 5).

Ambassador Shcherbak said the Ukrainian government has assurances from the Russian president, from its prime minister and from its foreign minister that Russia has no territorial claims against Ukraine, "that the Ukrainian status of Sevastopol is indisputable and that the process of division [of the Black Sea Fleet] should be accomplished in accordance with prior bilateral agreements." The Ukrainian government, he added, deals with the Russian government.

The problem is that the majority of Russian legislators, some political figures and some military people don't want the Ukrainian navy in Sevastopol at all. They want the old Soviet fleet preserved, and they want the Ukrainian navy to go elsewhere. But the Sevastopol naval facilities are vast, explained Volodymyr Havrylov, the Ukrainian Embassy's defense attaché; there is more than enough room for both navies. There are five large bays in Sevastopol and in the largest of them, Sevastopolska Bay alone, there is room for 500 vessels, Mr. Havrylov said.

Currently, the Ukrainian navy has 70 vessels based in Sevastopol and Kerch on the Crimean Peninsula, and in Odesa and Ochakiv, further north on the Black Sea. Once the division of the Black Sea Fleet is completed, Ukraine would have 150 units.

But there is more to the Sevastopol facilities than just ships. Mr. Havrylov said that the Black Sea Fleet - still formally under joint Ukrainian-Russian control, but in fact in Russian possession - also includes a 2,000-strong marine brigade, 50 tanks, 200 armored vehicles and up to 70 artillery pieces. After adopting its Constitution, Ukraine was willing to let these forces remain in Ukraine for a specified time. "Ukraine approached the issues realistically... We wanted to be friendly [with Russia]," noted Deputy Chief of Mission Valeriy Kuchinsky. But, he added, now that Russian legislators and commentators refuse to share the naval facilities with Ukraine on Ukrainian territory, the Verkhovna Rada has drafted legislation on the removal of all Russian troops from Ukraine.

Embassy Counselor Volodymyr Belashov, who had participated in Ukrainian-Russian negotiations on the fleet, told the gathering that the Russian side never raised the issue of Sevastopol as a Russian city before the recent moves by the legislators in Moscow.

The lack of agreement on the Black Sea Fleet complicates matters in everyday activities in Crimea. As Dr. Brzezinski pointed out, now if the Ukrainian police in Sevastopol arrest a disorderly Russian sailor, he is handed over to the Black Sea Fleet military authorities for judicial action and not to the Ukrainian authorities who have jurisdiction in the city. Dr. Brzezinski commented that this is akin to the situation involving "an army of occupation." In Okinawa, he said, Japanese courts exercise judicial authority over disorderly American GIs.

Prof. Prizel of Johns Hopkins University noted that the imperialist fever over Sevastopol has made its way into Russian liberal publications and cited an article in the Izvestiya newspaper complaining about the frequent calls on Ukrainian ports by NATO ships. Ukraine, like Russia, participates in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, noted Ambassador Shcherbak, and that is why NATO ships drop anchor at Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

This brought to mind a comment by a wag at a recent scholarly conference about the difference between Russian chauvinists and liberals: the former shout that Crimea belongs to Russia, and the latter gently explain why this has to be so.