Turning the pages back... December 15, 1996 (12/14/03)

Turning the pages back...

December 15, 1996

Seven years ago, on December 15, 1996, The Ukrainian Weekly reported that the Russian Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, on December 5 passed a resolution that questioned the status of the city of Sevastopol in Crimea: "unilateral actions by the Ukrainian side aimed at severing from Russia a part of her territory are not only illegal from any viewpoint of international law, but are detrimental to Russia's security."

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada responded the next day with a resolution of its own and the introduction of a bill on the removal of foreign troops from Ukrainian soil. The Verkhovna Rada voted 227 to 38 with 11 abstentions to bring to the floor a bill on "the withdrawal of foreign troops from Ukraine's territory, which called for the removal of all foreign troops, except for those invited by the government by the year 2000." It also voted to declare that the Federation Council vote was "a claim on the territorial integrity of Ukraine" and that "the status of Sevastopol cannot be changed; it has been and remains Ukrainian territory."

Our Kyiv correspondent Roman Woronowycz reported: "For weeks the Russian Duma, the lower house, had been simmering with disenchantment that the Black Sea Fleet would leave the city of Sevastopol, located in the Crimean autonomous region of Ukraine, with an agreement between the executive branches of both governments seemingly near at hand. It had passed the first reading of a resolution that would have brought the city under the budgetary responsibility of the Duma and officially declared it a Russian city." The vote on that measure was delayed, but the Duma did pass a resolution stating that talks on divvying up the fleet must be halted, which President Boris Yeltsin vetoed.

The Federation Council resolution stated that firmness in upholding national interests and adherence to law would help in "defending and strengthening Russian statehood." It said that actions by Ukraine "hamper the development of good neighborly and mutually beneficial relations between the two fraternal peoples and are detrimental to the international prestige of the two countries." The proposal to issue a statement on the status of Sevastopol was initiated by the powerful mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, who had declared in October that Sevastopol is and will be a Russian city.

At a regular press briefing at Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 10, ministry spokesperson Yurii Sergeyev said the status of the city is not negotiable. "Ukraine's territorial integrity has been recognized by all nations, and none - except for certain political circles in Russia - calls it into question," said Mr. Sergeyev.

Source: "Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada takes action against Russian claims to Sevastopol," by Roman Woronowycz, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, December 15, 1996, Vol. LXIV, No. 50.

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