Seasickness

Ukraine wants to sail away by expelling the Russian fleet

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to prepare a bill within two months, that is, until July 20, to terminate international agreements on the temporary presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet (BSF) in the country from 2017. This order became part of an ambitious presidential decree that approved the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of May 16, 2008 “On measures to ensure the development of Ukraine as a maritime state.” The military division requires not only the withdrawal of the Russian fleet, but also the strengthening of national naval power - the development of a Ukrainian shipbuilding program until 2035, the renewal of fleet and naval aviation forces. In the same two-month period, the government must resolve the issue of the fate of the unfinished missile cruiser "Ukraine", launched in Nikolaev before the collapse of the USSR.

The first step towards transforming Ukraine into a great maritime power was a blow to Russian naval interests in the Black Sea. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko confirmed that the government has already begun to develop a bill on the Russian Black Sea Fleet: “The government will act within the framework of international agreements. We do not take a single step that either calls into question the agreements or allows for their non-compliance.”

According to the Russian-Ukrainian agreement signed in May 1997, the Black Sea Fleet can remain in Crimea until May 28, 2017. There are nine years left before the lowering of the St. Andrew's flag on the Sevastopol roadstead, but the Ukrainian authorities are rushing Russia to begin discussing a plan to close the Black Sea Fleet bases in Crimea. In April, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vladimir Ohryzko handed over a memorandum to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the stages and procedure for the withdrawal of the Russian Black Sea Fleet from the territory of Ukraine. Then on Smolenskaya Square they said that “discussion of this topic is not relevant for us.” This alarmed politicians in Kyiv, who accused Moscow of blocking negotiations to discuss a plan for the withdrawal of the fleet.

“Having taken a strategic course towards joining NATO, Ukraine is in a hurry, fearing the extension of the agreement on the Black Sea Fleet. But there is still time for Russia, which has political weight in the world and in Ukraine itself, to try to make the presence of the Russian fleet in Crimea attractive for Ukrainians,” Russian Vice Admiral Valery Dorogin told Vremya Novostey. Although the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 year, but the division of the Black Sea Fleet into Russian and Ukrainian occurred in 1997. The issue of the presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine intensified after the victory in the 2004 presidential elections of Viktor Yushchenko, who was focused on Ukraine’s accession to NATO. In April 2005, he announced that the status of the Black Sea Fleet. Russia in Sevastopol needs to be reconsidered. The then Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk said: “The stay of the Russian fleet in Sevastopol, limited to 2017, will not be extended.”

“President Yushchenko is in a hurry to make the process of turning Crimea into a NATO base irreversible. To do this, it is necessary to squeeze out the Black Sea Fleet. Yushchenko’s refusal to extend the agreement on the Black Sea Fleet could force Russia to reconsider and even denounce the 1997 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Ukraine,” Kirill Frolov, a researcher at the Ukraine department of the Institute of CIS Countries, told VN.

The birth date of the Black Sea Fleet is considered to be the entry of ships of the Azov flotilla of the Russian Empire into Akhtiar Bay in May 1783. Just last week, celebrations were held in Sevastopol in honor of the 225th anniversary of the fleet, and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who arrived at the parade, said that in response to Kiev’s pro-Western policy, it was time for the Russians to withdraw from the Treaty of Friendship with Ukraine : “By leaving the treaty, we We will be able to open the question of Crimea and Sevastopol again.” The mayor explained that the ownership of these territories by Ukraine, and not Russia, raises doubts. The Ukrainian authorities called this speech a provocation, and the Moscow mayor himself was declared persona non grata. “The mayor was just stating legal and historical facts. So you can declare persona non grata to any person who knows history. Even if Luzhkov had not said anything, the Ukrainians would still have decided to expel the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Mr. Frolov noted to Vremya Novostei.

Victor VOLODIN