Port of ambition

With the coming to power of Viktor Yanukovych, the position of the Black Sea Fleet has not fundamentally improved

Sergey Smirnov (Sevastopol) The improvement of relations between Russia and Ukraine after Viktor Yanukovych came to power did little to change the position of the Black Sea Fleet. Kyiv continues to use the special position of the Russian base as a reason to demand concessions; the isolation of the base complicates both the service and life of sailors, but the symbolic significance of Russia’s maritime presence in the Black Sea overpowers everything, experts believe.

Dmitry Medvedev and Viktor Yanukovych did not come to Sevastopol to celebrate Navy Day. The Russian sailors were congratulated by the head of the administration Sergei Naryshkin . Due to mourning for the dead miners in Ukraine, all entertainment events, including fireworks and a concert, were canceled, so the Navy Day was held modestly in the Black Sea Fleet. However, a full-fledged parade with demonstration shooting and performances by pilots has not taken place in Sevastopol since the mid-2000s, since Viktor Yushchenko came to power. Despite the change of power in Ukraine, the extension of the lease of the base in Sevastopol until 2042 and assurances of friendship, this had virtually no effect on the fleet. Officers of the Black Sea Fleet told a Gazeta.Ru correspondent about this during a press tour to Sevastopol, organized by the Ministry of Defense on the eve of the celebration of Navy Day.

Better but worse

Relations between Russia and Ukraine, including in matters of military cooperation, have recently changed for the better - this is the official position of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Recently, interaction has sharply improved and increased,” Vice Admiral Alexander Troyan, chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet, told reporters in Sevastopol. According to him, this is evidenced by joint Russian-Ukrainian maneuvers. Here we should also add the conclusion of an agreement between Moscow and Kiev to extend the lease of the naval base in Sevastopol until 2042. On condition of anonymity, officers say that things are not so rosy in relations.

“In essence, nothing has changed: not a single one of the decrees of Yusch (Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine in 2005–2010 - Gazeta.Ru), which changed the notification nature of our events to a permitting one, has been cancelled. We need to obtain approval from the Ukrainian side for literally every step we take, for any movement of a ship or plane,” explains the officer. The Russian military often simply ignores coordination issues, he complains, even if they concern very minor movements.

“For Ukraine, this is the only way to put pressure on Russia, so any negotiations and agreements are very difficult,” says the officer.

According to another representative of the Black Sea Fleet, relations between Russia and Ukraine may change both with and without a change of power in Kyiv. He recalled that Yushchenko’s position on the Russian fleet hardened after the five-day war with Georgia. “If any difficulties arise in negotiations on gas or something similar, Ukraine will begin to blackmail Russia with the Black Sea Fleet,” the officer predicts.

After Yanukovych came to power, Ukraine declared its "non-aligned status", thus eliminating the task of immediate entry into NATO . Nevertheless, Kyiv’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance continued, and NATO standards apply in the Ukrainian army.

The participation of the US Navy cruiser Monterey with the Aegis missile defense system in the Ukrainian-American exercise Sea Breeze 2011 irritated Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a special statement. Formally, dissatisfaction was expressed only with respect to Washington’s position, but the exercises were joint. A few days later, Kommersant-Ukraine published classified documents that indicate that under Yanukovych, cooperation with NATO is developing more actively than under Yushchenko. It follows from the document that the Ukrainian authorities and representatives of the alliance are discussing behind closed doors issues sensitive to Moscow: security in the region and the future of the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed in Crimea, missile defense, the Transnistrian settlement, the energy and economic security of Ukraine, reforming its intelligence structures.

Russia's top officials have not made official visits to Sevastopol for a long time, officers complain.

The last time a Russian president visited the Black Sea Fleet was in 2000, with Vladimir Putin, who had already won the presidential election but had not yet officially taken office.

Dmitry Medvedev has never been on an official visit to Sevastopol, although he did board the fleet's flagship, the cruiser Moskva, during a trip to Novorossiysk.

Old as the Navy

The issue of coordinating the movement of military equipment across Ukrainian territory will soon again become key in relations between the fleet and the Ukrainian authorities, when new military equipment is sent to the port of Sevastopol. As Navy Commander Vladimir Vysotsky announced at the end of July, in the coming years the Black Sea Fleet will receive six Project 636 diesel-electric submarines and six frigates. The fleet needs to be updated, this is obvious to everyone in Sevastopol, but no one expects a simple solution to this problem: the arrival of equipment will also require approval in Kyiv.

“The shipyards have already laid down three ships specifically for the Black Sea Fleet, but it is unclear when they will reach us,”

- explains the naval officer. In 2008, the issue of rearmament of the fleet was already raised, then the Ukrainian authorities questioned the very possibility of modernizing the fleet as a potential threat to the security of Ukraine.

Now the basis of the fleet is made up of ships from the 70s and 80s of the 20th century; their service life is running out, officers note, although outwardly they seem to be well preserved. Thus, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, was launched in 1979. Now the fleet has only one submarine, Alrosa, which entered service in 1990. The PB-380 submarine, which was launched in 1982 and is on the balance sheet of the Black Sea Fleet, has not performed combat missions for a long time. The exceptions among the rather old ships are the Bora and Samum hovercraft missile boats, which were put into service already in the 1990s, as well as several new minesweepers.

The chief of staff of Troyan avoided answering the question about the official number of ships in the Black Sea Fleet. According to the 1997 agreement between Moscow and Kiev on the status of the Black Sea Fleet, a group of Russian ships of up to 100 units may be located on the territory of Ukraine - this is exactly how many were on the balance sheet of the Russian fleet in the year the agreement was concluded. In May 2008, Vysotsky said that the size of the Russian group had been reduced to 35 ships. At the moment, according to the website sevastopol.info, the Russian Black Sea Fleet includes 43 ships, but this figure can be considered the maximum possible: several ships have already been decommissioned or are not performing combat missions, like the PB-380 submarine.

Over the past two years, the Black Sea Fleet has had three commanders.

In July 2010, Vice Admiral Alexander Kletskov was replaced by Vice Admiral Vladimir Korolev , and in June 2011, Rear Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov became commander of the fleet. “The position of the Ministry of Defense on the rotation of command personnel raises questions. As soon as a person begins to “get into” the state of affairs, he is transferred to another position,” one of the officers complained in a conversation with a Gazeta.Ru correspondent. In his opinion, the frequent change of leadership is explained by the desire to familiarize the senior command staff of the fleet with the situation in different regions and give managers the opportunity to gain real management skills in the conditions of different fleets. “But our situation is special, there are many nuances, often we are talking not about military training, but about political issues. It’s not easy to understand them right away,” explains the officer.

As an example, he cites attempts to seize lands belonging to the fleet. “We often don’t need them for nothing, but all attempts at squatting are strictly suppressed: a precedent cannot be created,” the officer explained. Previously, the situation was even more complicated. “After the war with Georgia, Yusch began to literally squeeze us out of Sevastopol. It got to the point that Ukrainian police officers were on duty where officers and contract soldiers appeared to check their registration (in Sevastopol: to stay on the territory of Ukraine for more than 90 days, you must register at your place of stay - Gazeta.Ru),” says Officer. Often this coincided with the return of a ship from a long combat mission. “They just grabbed everyone on the way out and checked their documents. It is clear that it is impossible to renew registration while on combat duty. Those who overstayed their registration were taken to the police station. However, it never came to deportation,” explains the officer.

Ukrainian cook on combat duty

Due to the special situation of the fleet, not all innovations of the Russian army reached Sevastopol. For example, it has not yet been possible to introduce an outsourcing system; service personnel are still involved in household services themselves. Russian companies that win tenders do not have the right to work in Ukraine, and the Ministry of Defense is not ready to involve local companies in the work.

“Well, how can you take a Ukrainian cook on a submarine or even on a ship during combat duty?”

- one of the naval officers was perplexed.

There is still an acute shortage of contract soldiers. For example, in a marine brigade they should make up 25% of the personnel. The salary of a contract soldier is 3 thousand hryvnia (about 11 thousand rubles - Gazeta.Ru), but he spends at least a third, or even more, on rent. “Few people agree to such conditions. To fully staff a local brigade with contract soldiers, the salary must be at the level of a thousand dollars,” the Marine Corps officer answered the question of what is needed to switch to the contract system.

As in other regions, the housing problem is acute in Sevastopol: there are not enough apartments not only for contract soldiers, but also for officers. The situation is complicated by the fact that Russian construction companies cannot operate on the territory of Ukraine without a special license, even if the construction of housing for military personnel takes place literally 300 meters from the Marine Corps military unit.

Golden order No. 400

“No one will talk to you about real problems on their own behalf,” warns the naval officer. “Even about what is already well known: no one wants to risk the bonuses of order 400. And if you say something unnecessary, you will immediately lose all the bonuses, and the official salary of officers is very small.”

Order No. 400 of the Ministry of Defense introduces special bonuses for military personnel for success in combat training. Moreover, the amount of bonuses, according to this order, often significantly exceeds the official salary. On the one hand, the order allows officers to receive decent pay, on the other hand, it leads to abuse. An open letter from instructor pilot Igor Sulim addressed to the Minister of Defense and the head of the Air Force about extortion at the Lipetsk School received wide public response. Its leaders demanded that the pilots “share” with them the bonuses allocated specifically under Order No. 400.

“We had the same story in the Black Sea Fleet. They demanded money from the pilots. But they just came to their superiors with a report,

- says the officer. According to him, then the management harshly suppressed attempts to extort.

The implementation of Order No. 400 is perceived ambiguously in the army, although the allocation of significant funds for the payment of bonuses is approved by all officers without exception. The ratio of salaries and bonuses under Order No. 400 was illustrated by his own example, the commander of the cruiser “Moskva”, Captain 1st Rank Sergei Tronev: he receives 150–180 thousand rubles per month, while his fixed salary is about 50 thousand, the rest is payments under Order No. 400 .

Therefore, officers are wary of the promised increase in pay starting January 1, 2012, fearing that bonuses under Order No. 400 will be cancelled. “In the end it will be about the same as it is now, or even less. Although those who receive little or nothing under Order No. 400 are looking forward to January 1,” says one of the naval officers.

Like in Guantanamo

The presence of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol demonstrates Russia’s imperial ambitions; the fleet cannot carry out strategic tasks due to its location, notes Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Journal and military expert Alexander Golts . “Everyone understands that its (Black Sea Fleet - Gazeta.Ru) ships have limited capabilities: in order to pass through the straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles), it must ask permission from Turkey. But it is important to show yourself and others that Sevastopol is the “city of Russian glory”: this affects the generation of people from 40 to 70 years old. And politicians take advantage of this,” says Goltz. According to the expert, Yanukovych understands Moscow’s motivation and skillfully uses it. “He (Yanukovych - Gazeta.Ru) understood perfectly well that for Russia this is a matter of status. And he is ready to ask for an excellent price for it, bargaining for discounts on gas and oil,” the expert notes.

Ukraine's attitude towards the Russian naval base in Sevastopol will depend on the nature of the relationship between Moscow and Kyiv, local analysts say. “The fleet is not self-sufficient: it is part of a large geopolitical structure, a game, if you like,” believes Ukrainian political scientist Dmitry Vydrin . In his opinion,

“two models are possible - like the Americans in Japan and like the Americans in Guantanamo.”

“If in the first case the Japanese say “don’t leave, you are a guarantee of our security,” then the Cubans ask almost every day “when will you leave,” explains the political scientist. According to him, under the current government, problems in relations between countries should not worsen. “The President (Yanukovych - Gazeta.Ru) is already doing the maximum that public opinion allows,” Vydrin is sure.

Port of ambitions - Gazeta.Ru