Twenty five more

Yanukovych turned out to be flexible: the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol was extended by 25 years. The current agreement expires in 2017, meaning the fleet will remain on Ukrainian territory until 2042. Russia managed to achieve this in exchange for agreeing to sell gas to Kyiv at a 30 percent discount.

The new president of Ukraine said that by signing the relevant agreements, he and Dmitry Medvedev “opened a new page in relations between Ukraine and Russia.” Thanks to the 30 percent discount, Ukraine will receive “real investment resources totaling about $40 billion” in the next ten years. Medvedev explained that the discount on gas “will be taken into account in the rent for the stay of our fleet in Sevastopol,” that is, the rental rate will be increased by 30%. By the way, the discount provision is included in the agreement on the Black Sea Fleet itself - thus Russia, as Kommersant writes, tried to protect itself from the situation if Kyiv suddenly does not ratify the agreement or denounces it.

And the scandal has already broken out. Supporters of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko consider Yanukovych a traitor and slave of Russia and threaten him with impeachment. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko wants to convene an extraordinary session of the Verkhovna Rada to discuss new agreements and calls on citizens to gather at the parliament building on April 24 to express their protest. The Duma plans to ratify the treaty on April 27.

In the new agreement on the fleet, as well as in the one still in force, there is a clause on the possibility of extending the duration of the fleet every five years. The fact that the Black Sea Fleet will remain in Sevastopol until 2042, according to Medvedev, “will create the best guarantees of European security in the Black Sea basin,” which can be considered in the context of the president’s plan for European security.

Kommersant reminds that states on whose territory there are foreign military bases cannot become NATO members. Yanukovych, apparently, is moving away from the alliance - not so long ago he abolished the Commission for the country's integration into NATO and the National Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration. The alliance reacts calmly to this, at least outwardly, explaining that NATO does not force anyone to join and it is up to each state whether to join the alliance or not.