Twenty-five years ago, on April 15, 1994, Presidents Leonid Kravchuk and Boris Yeltsin signed an agreement to divide the Black Sea Fleet, with each country gaining 50 percent of the flotilla and Ukraine was to receive 25 percent of all other property associated with the Sevastopol fleet.
A legacy of the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Black Sea Fleet was a longstanding dispute between the two countries. The Weekly’s correspondent, Roman Woronowycz, reported that several previous agreements seemed to have decided the destiny of the flotilla, but dissention among naval officers on both sides did not allow for implementation.
The confrontation saw an uptick on April 9 in Odesa when the Ukrainian hydrographic ship, the Cheleken, was commandeered by Russia to Sevastopol.
Borys Tarasyuk, deputy foreign affairs minister, said that Ukraine would hand most of its share of the ships over to Russia in payment for oil and gas debts. “Ukraine will keep between 15 and 20 percent of the ships,” he said.
Mr. Tarasyuk refuted some Russia press reports that suggested the fleet would be divided according to the Massandra protocol – an agreement signed in 1993 that stipulated that Ukraine would renounce claims to all of the Black Sea Fleet and that Russia would rent the base at Sevastopol from Ukraine. Many believed that Mr. Kravchuk signed the agreement under duress; that Russia had threatened to turn off all oil and gas supplies if Ukraine did not acquiesce to Russia’s demands.
“Ukraine is following an integrated approach to the problem of the Black Sea Fleet, taking into account the provisions of the Dagomys, Yalta and Zavidovo agreements, as well as those of Massandra,” said Mr. Tarasyuk.
The agreement was announced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 19. However, details of the agreement had not been worked out 100 percent, with those details scheduled to be announced on April 21 in Sevastopol.
Moscow suggested that Russia should obtain control of strategic warships, such as antisubmarine vessels and cruisers, and that Ukraine would take the tactical portion of the fleet (mine-sweepers and coast guard boats), as reported by Interfax.
Ukraine’s naval presence in Sevastopol was also to be discussed, with bases announced for Izmail, Ilichivsk (now known as Chornomorsk), Ochakiv, Kherson and Kerch.
Since 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its seizure of Ukraine’s naval vessels based in Crimea, most of Ukraine’s naval vessels based in Crimea have been forcibly taken by Russia (54 out of 67 ships in Ukraine’s navy), with basing of Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels at Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast, and Crimea.
Source: “Ukraine, Russia agree to split Black Sea Fleet,” by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 24, 1994.