Naval port is focus of rising tension between Moscow and Kiev
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Stefan Wagstyl and Roman Olearchyk
"THERE'S one," says Gennady Basov, pointing to a Russian flag on a car aerial in the Black Sea naval port of Sevastopol. "There's another, and another."
It could be A children's game. But MT Basov is 37 and has an entirely adult agenda - he is a pro-Russia activist promoting a Russian sense of identity in a city that Moscow lost to Ukraine with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He says: "Sevastopol really belongs to Russia, not Ukraine. Documents prove it."
To many Ukrainians, Mr Basov's comments are highly inflammatory. But in Sevastopol itself, with its large ethnic Russian population and historic ties with Moscow, these are mainstream views.
The city of 340,000 has become the latest focus of tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Kiev last month month banned Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow's mayor and a strong supporter of Russian claims to Sevastopol, over a speech he made in the city.
Moscow responded by prohibiting Yevhen Korniychuk, Ukraine's first deputy justice minister, from travelling to Russia after he proposed a ban on Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, for suggesting Ukraine was "not a proper country".
The war of words has escalated since Ukraine this year announced its bid for a Nato membership action plan, a formal step to joining the alliance. Nato rejected the application but has promised to reconsider later this year. Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-west president, has pledged to keep banging on the door.
Moscow opposes Nato enlargement and is determined to stop Kiev's accession because of the deep links between Russia and Ukraine. It is flexing its muscles in the ex-Soviet Union by supporting Russia-oriented regions and populations in neighbouring states, notably in breakaway Abkhazia in Georgia.
With 60 per cent of Crimea's 2.0m population ethnic Russians, the entire region is of interest to Moscow. Ukraine has accused Russian politicians of interference, notably in relations between the ethnic Russian majority andthe 250,000-strong Crimean Tartar minority, which is very loyal to Kiev.
But Sevastopol matters most as it is home to the Russian Black Sea fleet, which lastmonth marked its 225th anniversary with rousing parades and rallies. Under the agreements that split the Soviet Union, the former Soviet Black Sea fleet was divided between Russia and Ukraine, with Moscow securing the lion's share and rights to remain in Sevastopol. In 1997, Kiev granted Moscow a 20-year lease on the base.
The Russian navy dominates the city, with scores of ships moored in its harbours and an imposing headquarters building on a promontory overlooking Sevastopol bay. Russian naval buildings are scattered across the city centre, including an officers' club and a museum. Unlike many provincial Russian and Ukrainian cities, central Sevastopol is in good trim, the white-washed public buildings standing proud against the blue waters and sky. Russian officers stride about in full uniform; offduty, they drink in waterside bars.
Visiting Russian politicians gather large crowds. Even in their absence, Mr Basov and his local colleagues maintain the pressure with pro-Moscow rallies staged in the central square named after Admiral Pavel Nakhimov, a hero of the Crimean war.
Mr Luzhkov and other nationalist Russian politicians say bluntly that all Crimea, including Sevastopol, belongs to Moscow. They claim it was never historic Ukrainian territory but was included in Ukraine only in 1954, when Nikita Krushchev, the Soviet leader, transferred Crimea from the Russian republic inside the USSR to the Ukraine. In communist times, this made little difference but it meant that with Ukrainian independence in 1991, Crimea went to Kiev.
Mr Luzhkov's supporters further claim that Sevastopol itself was not included in Khrushchev's gift because, as a military city, it was ruled directly from Moscow, even after 1954. Kiev counters that Russia has acknowledged Ukraine's borders in treaties since 1991 and explicitly recognised Ukraine's ownership of Sevastopol, not least through the 1997 lease.
Mr Putin has not publicly questioned Crimea or Sevastopol's status. But he has said he wants the fleet to stay after 2017 and he has implicitly questioned Ukraine's sovereignty.
Mr Yushchenko, who generally keeps a low profile over Sevastopol, last month proposed a draft law on terminating the fleet agreement.
Mr Korniychuk, the banned Ukrainian official, says: "It's very sad that relations between Russia and Ukraine are deteriorating. We can settle the issues between us. But now may not be the right time to make these decisions."
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"THERE'S one," says Gennady Basov, pointing to a Russian flag on a car aerial in the Black Sea naval port of Sevastopol. "There's another, and another."
It could be A children's game. But MT Basov is 37 and has an entirely adult agenda - he is a pro-Russia activist promoting a Russian sense of identity in a city that Moscow lost to Ukraine with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He says: "Sevastopol really belongs to Russia, not Ukraine. Documents prove it."
To many Ukrainians, Mr Basov's comments are highly inflammatory. But in Sevastopol itself, with its large ethnic Russian population and historic ties with Moscow, these are mainstream views.
The city of 340,000 has become the latest focus of tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Kiev last month month banned Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow's mayor and a strong supporter of Russian claims to Sevastopol, over a speech he made in the city.
Moscow responded by prohibiting Yevhen Korniychuk, Ukraine's first deputy justice minister, from travelling to Russia after he proposed a ban on Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, for suggesting Ukraine was "not a proper country".
The war of words has escalated since Ukraine this year announced its bid for a Nato membership action plan, a formal step to joining the alliance. Nato rejected the application but has promised to reconsider later this year. Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-west president, has pledged to keep banging on the door.
Moscow opposes Nato enlargement and is determined to stop Kiev's accession because of the deep links between Russia and Ukraine. It is flexing its muscles in the ex-Soviet Union by supporting Russia-oriented regions and populations in neighbouring states, notably in breakaway Abkhazia in Georgia.
With 60 per cent of Crimea's 2.0m population ethnic Russians, the entire region is of interest to Moscow. Ukraine has accused Russian politicians of interference, notably in relations between the ethnic Russian majority andthe 250,000-strong Crimean Tartar minority, which is very loyal to Kiev.
But Sevastopol matters most as it is home to the Russian Black Sea fleet, which lastmonth marked its 225th anniversary with rousing parades and rallies. Under the agreements that split the Soviet Union, the former Soviet Black Sea fleet was divided between Russia and Ukraine, with Moscow securing the lion's share and rights to remain in Sevastopol. In 1997, Kiev granted Moscow a 20-year lease on the base.
The Russian navy dominates the city, with scores of ships moored in its harbours and an imposing headquarters building on a promontory overlooking Sevastopol bay. Russian naval buildings are scattered across the city centre, including an officers' club and a museum. Unlike many provincial Russian and Ukrainian cities, central Sevastopol is in good trim, the white-washed public buildings standing proud against the blue waters and sky. Russian officers stride about in full uniform; offduty, they drink in waterside bars.
Visiting Russian politicians gather large crowds. Even in their absence, Mr Basov and his local colleagues maintain the pressure with pro-Moscow rallies staged in the central square named after Admiral Pavel Nakhimov, a hero of the Crimean war.
Mr Luzhkov and other nationalist Russian politicians say bluntly that all Crimea, including Sevastopol, belongs to Moscow. They claim it was never historic Ukrainian territory but was included in Ukraine only in 1954, when Nikita Krushchev, the Soviet leader, transferred Crimea from the Russian republic inside the USSR to the Ukraine. In communist times, this made little difference but it meant that with Ukrainian independence in 1991, Crimea went to Kiev.
Mr Luzhkov's supporters further claim that Sevastopol itself was not included in Khrushchev's gift because, as a military city, it was ruled directly from Moscow, even after 1954. Kiev counters that Russia has acknowledged Ukraine's borders in treaties since 1991 and explicitly recognised Ukraine's ownership of Sevastopol, not least through the 1997 lease.
Mr Putin has not publicly questioned Crimea or Sevastopol's status. But he has said he wants the fleet to stay after 2017 and he has implicitly questioned Ukraine's sovereignty.
Mr Yushchenko, who generally keeps a low profile over Sevastopol, last month proposed a draft law on terminating the fleet agreement.
Mr Korniychuk, the banned Ukrainian official, says: "It's very sad that relations between Russia and Ukraine are deteriorating. We can settle the issues between us. But now may not be the right time to make these decisions."
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