Translated material
Lighthouses by inertia
Ukrainian court recalled the Black Sea Fleet
Ukraine does not intend to give the Crimean lighthouses to the Russians. Yesterday, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine confirmed to Vremya Novostey that on September 11, the Sevastopol Court of Appeal issued a verdict regarding the Crimean lighthouses at the disposal of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It follows from the court decision that the Russian Ministry of Defense “illegally owns” navigation and hydrographic support facilities on the Crimean coast, including lighthouses along the coastal strip from Cape Tarkhankut to Cape Lukull and from Cape Sarych to Cape Ayudag. The court decided to confiscate all this property and return it to the Ukrainian owner - the state enterprise Goshydrography.On September 12, ITAR-TASS denied information from the Ukrainian media about the decision of the Sevastopol Court of Appeal, calling it a “provocation” and reporting that the hearings would take place only today. But the decision has already been made. In general, the litigation lasts about three years, the case totals seven volumes.
Ukraine has won all the trials held so far, but Russia has not complied with any of the court decisions. Moscow calls Ukraine’s actions “illegal,” since they “violate the Russian-Ukrainian basic agreements” on the conditions for basing the Russian fleet in Crimea until 2017.
It is believed that the simmering conflict over lighthouses could lead to new disagreements between countries. In January, it almost led to a shooting when activists of the Ukrainian public organization “Student Brotherhood” tried to storm the premises. But the head of the Ukrainian Institute of Global Strategies, Vadim Karasev, urged “not to exaggerate the significance of the decision of the Sevastopol Court of Appeal.” “The aggravation of the situation around the Crimean lighthouses is connected with the “orange” past of part of the current government. It's a different political era now. The court made a decision rather out of inertia,” he told Vremya Novostey.
The Ukrainian expert believes that the situation will be resolved “not by the court, but by politicians”; in fact, “the dispute was not about economic entities, but about the borders of Ukraine”, since the question was being resolved “whether the Russian Black Sea Fleet will be located only in Sevastopol or in Crimea in in general." According to Mr. Karasev, the problem of lighthouses, as well as the conditions for basing the Russian fleet in Crimea, “will fall into a large package of controversial political problems - from gas to the Tuzla Spit, the Kerch water area and border demarcation.”