Black Sea Fleet accord subject of controversy (06/15/97)

Black Sea Fleet accord subject of controversy

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Few people, if anybody, thought that the Black Sea Fleet accord would pass into history without some controversy. It has not. The rhetoric over the May 28 treaty that splits the Black Sea Fleet between Russia and Ukraine, and gives Russia a military presence in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, has ranged from "whose territory is it after all" to "just how many bays does Russia get anyway?"

Political factions in both countries have decried the agreement as forfeiture of their territory.

In Ukraine, National Deputy Vyacheslav Chornovil, the leader of the Rukh faction in the Verkhovna Rada, strongly criticized the Black Sea Fleet accord on May 29, a day after Russia's Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, along with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Lazarenko attached their signatures to the agreement that gives Russia a leasehold on three of Sevastopol's bays for 20 years.

He said, "Given Russia's imperialistic and aggressive tendencies vis-á-vis Crimea in general and Sevastopol in particular, which is reflected in the several declarations of the [Russian] State Duma, to leave the Russian Black Sea Fleet [in Sevastopol] for 20 years is to force a pervasive and permanent atmosphere of agitation and strain not only in Crimea but in Ukraine."

A day later Mr. Chornovil presented a plan to de-militarize the Black Sea basin, which he said he would propose to the government. He called on Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, all countries adjoining the Black Sea, to sign a charter to that effect. A statement released by Rukh on June 4 called for the countries "to remove the constant tension in the Black Sea region" by de-militarizing it under the Partnership for Peace program, a NATO- sponsored program that encourages military cooperation with the alliance, and to which all the Black Sea basin countries belong.

"The implementation of substantial restrictions on military activity in the Black Sea aquatorium, specifically of flotillas with strategic design, would exclude the need and opportunity for the basing of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol," stated the document.

Mr. Chornovil said at the time that he did not see how his faction could vote to ratify the accord and called some of its articles unconstitutional.

The Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists also has called the BSF agreement unconstitutional and called on June 3 for the document to be reviewed by Ukraine's Constitutional Court. The political organization said the agreement "contravenes Ukraine's national interests."

Even members of the Constitutional Center faction in the Verkhovna Rada, which generally supports President Leonid Kuchma, expressed problems with the agreement. On May 29 National Deputy Taras Kiyak, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Foreign Affairs Committee and of the Constitutional Center faction, said that "a number of provisions of the agreement are dangerous to Ukraine." He called "alarming" the 20-year length of the lease and its "extremely low price." He said he was concerned also with the little amount of information that has been made available to the members of Parliament and the general public.

But Ukrainians have not been the only ones voicing their displeasure over the Black Sea Fleet split. The day after the signing ceremony, Russian Communist Party leader Gennadi Zyuganov lashed out against the agreement. "What Mr. Yeltsin and his entourage are doing is the destruction of the Black Sea Fleet. Far from strengthening the defense capability of either Russia or Ukraine, this only demonstrates provincial political mentality," said Mr. Zyuganov, according to an Interfax-Ukraine report.

And, most recently, the leadership of the Russian State Duma expressed its criticism. On June 10 Deputy Chairman Sergei Baburin stated that, far from settling the problem, the BSF agreement and the Ukraine-Russia treaty on friendship and cooperation may turn the issue of Sevastopol into an "outright territorial dispute."

"The dominating interpretation of the Russian-Ukrainian treaty as recognition of the present-day situation as regards Crimea and Sevastopol is highly disputable," he said. Mr. Baburin explained that the only way the Russian Duma could ratify the treaty is if "this act is interpreted as one that seals Russia's right to Sevastopol and lays the groundwork for talks between Russia and Ukraine on Crimea."

Russia gets three bays in Sevastopol

Whether the BSF accord will be ratified by either Ukraine's or Russia's Parliament will remain hard to determine probably right up to the final vote in both countries - but at least the members of the legislative bodies will know exactly what was physically split. A day after the signing of the accord, reporters and even government leaders were not even certain of how many bays Russia's navy gets in the city of Sevastopol.

The controversy began at the signing ceremony on May 28 when Prime Minister Lazarenko said that, by the terms of the lease agreement, Russia would occupy two of Sevastopol's 27 bays, of which five have military capability. Ukraine would retain one, and one would be de-militarized. He never explained what would happen to the fifth bay.

Two days later President Kuchma's national security chief, Volodymyr Horbulin, tried to clarify the situation at a press conference that evening. He said Mr. Lazarenko had erred on Friday night, that in fact Russia would get three bays and Ukraine one. The last bay would be given over for commercial usage.

However, Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Yevgenii Primakov, who was meeting with Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko at the time of the Horbulin press conference, stated that Russia would lease four bays, which threw reporters into a quandary once again.

So, at a press conference on May 31, Foreign Affairs Minister Udovenko was asked to straighten out the inconsistency. He did not. Grinning he said, "Let's wait until the summit is over (Russia's President Boris Yeltsin and Ukraine's President Kuchma were to sign the big treaty that day). I think everything will become clear on Tuesday."

Finally, at a general press conference called by Prime Minister Lazarenko on June 3, Vice Minister of Defense Minister Ivan Bizhan explained that Russia will definitely lease three of the bays: Sevastopol Bay, Southern Bay and Quarantine Bay. Ukraine would keep its ships in Striletska Bay.

Part of the misunderstanding is due to the geographical location of the bays. Southern Bay is actually an arm of the largest bay, Sevastopol Bay, and some consider it one, which is what confused Mr. Lazarenko.

Mr. Primakov's misunderstanding may have resulted from the fact that the official residence of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet is located on Omega Bay. No Russian military forces will occupy that bay. The fifth bay, Kozak Bay, where Russian naval troops are currently housed, is to be de-militarized.

| Home Page |