NEWS ANALYSIS: Russian legislature and politicians claim Ukrainian port of Sevastopol (01/26/97)

NEWS ANALYSIS: Russian legislature and politicians claim Ukrainian port of Sevastopol

by Orest Deychakiwsky

Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov, in his latest provocative statement regarding the status of the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol, stated during a visit there on January 17 that "Sevastopol was and is a Russian city and we must defend Sevastopol's right to remain a Russian city" and that "No Russian will feel comfortable until Sevastopol is returned to the Russian Federation."

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a protest calling Mr. Luzhkov's remarks an infringement on Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Over the last year, Russian politicians have repeatedly laid claims to Sevastopol, inconsistent with Russia's OSCE obligations, including respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, located in the Crimea, is the home port of the Black Sea Fleet, the division of which has been the subject of difficult talks between Kyiv and Moscow since 1992.

While progress has been made as to the division of the fleet itself (with Russia and Ukraine discussing a lease agreement under which Russia would keep most of the fleet and continue to use Sevastopol as a base), the dispute has more recently centered on the question of basing rights within Sevastopol, with Russia demanding exclusive basing rights - i.e., that the Ukrainian navy command base itself elsewhere. Indeed, according to Russian demands, Ukrainian ships would be allowed to anchor in only one of Sevastopol's five bays.

On December 5, 1996, Russia's upper legislative chamber, the Federation Council, approved a resolution by a vote of 110-14 vote claiming the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol as part of Russia's territory, and condemning Ukraine's refusal to recognize Sevastopol's "Russian status." The Federation Council vote follows an overwhelming vote (282-0) in October 1996 by the Duma, Russia's lower parliamentary chamber, claiming Sevastopol for Russia. (The Duma had passed a similar resolution in 1993.)

While the Russian government's official position is that Russia lays no territorial claims on Ukraine - and that Sevastopol and Crimea are part of Ukraine - the Federation Council resolution, proposed by Mayor Luzhkov, produced consternation within Ukraine, as many Federation Council members are Yeltsin appointees.

Officials in Ukraine's government and the Verkhovna Rada reacted sharply to the resolution, with President Leonid Kuchma regretting that "not everyone in Russia has learned to accept Ukraine as a sovereign state yet," while calling for "calm and civilized negotiations" to settle the fleet matter and other outstanding issues between Ukraine and Russia.

The U.S. government expressed concern about the Federation Council and Duma resolutions, and encouraged active negotiations between Ukraine and Russia that would result in agreements on the Black Sea Fleet and a bilateral "friendship treaty."

Speaking on December 14, l996, Carlos Pascual, director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council, observed: "As a member of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe], Russia is obliged to adhere to the principles of that organization and the principles of the Helsinki Final Act, which include respect for territorial integrity within current borders. And we also note that statements by any official body of any OSCE member that call into question these basic principles are not constructive." The issue was also discussed at the December 12 OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna by Ukraine, Russia and the United States.

Orest Deychakiwsky is a staffer of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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