Eight years ago, on April 26, 2010, the Zoloti Vorota corporation, which included the Sevastopolbud company, noted that the number of transactions with buyers from Russia over the previous two months had increased in Sevastopol by 20-30 percent (which at the time was four to five apartments a month).
The real number may have been higher, as some Russian buyers might have used relatives in Ukraine, thereby avoiding being counted among non-residents. The majority of buyers were identified as servicemen of the Russian Black Sea Fleet who had reached pension age, as well as residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Ural Federal Region.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s lease at Sevastopol was extended an additional 25 years to 2042, after an agreement was signed on April 21, 2010, in Kharkiv by Presidents Viktor Yanukovych and Dimitri Medvedev of Russia. In exchange, Ukraine was to receive a 30 percent discount on imported gas from Gazprom for 10 years.
Critics said that the extension of the Russian BSF basing at Sevastopol constituted a foreign military base on the territory of Ukraine, in violation of the Constitution of Ukraine, with some calling for Mr. Yanukovych’s impeachment. The lease was originally set to expire in 2017.
Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the opposition, warned that what happened in Georgia in 2008 could happen to Ukraine, and in a worst-case scenario. “Sevastopol is the first step,” she said. “Without doubt, Crimea will be next if the gang continues its politics. Ukraine has begun the process of losing its independence.”
Similar criticism came from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) and other diaspora organizations.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed the agreement with 236 votes, amid egg-throwing and brawling in the hall. Outside the Parliament building, police and protesters clashed in similar fashion.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while on a visit to Estonia on April 22, called the lease a “balanced approach to [Ukraine’s] foreign policy.” Mr. Yanukovych pledged to improve and deepen relations between the U.S. and Ukraine. “At the same time, he has made it clear that he will continue to work together with Russia. Given Ukraine’s geographic position, that balancing act is a hard one, but it makes sense to us,” she said.
Source: “Russians buying housing in Crimea,” Ukrinform, The Ukrainian Weekly, May 2, 2010.