U.S. Missile Cruiser Visits Ukraine’s Sevastopol Port

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- A U.S. missile cruiser arrived on Friday in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol on an official visit which local authorities tried to kept secret to avoid protests, a source in the Sevastopol port said.

USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) had to wait for several hours before entering the Sevastopol harbor to skip an “unwelcome reception” by the crowds of protesters who had been gathered at the port since early morning.

“In order to avoid protests, the city authorities kept the timing of the visit a secret."

"The American officials will hold several meetings with their Ukrainian colleagues, but no major exercises are scheduled,” the source said.

Locals in Ukraine's Crimea, which has a largely Russian-speaking population, frequently protest against visits by NATO ships as Sevastopol also hosts the main headquarters and the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Philippine Sea is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser equipped with the Aegis combat system and 26 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

It is one of the U.S. warships being deployed in the Mediterranean as part of the Phased Adaptive Approach program designed to shape the European segment of the U.S.-led project to build a global missile defense network.

The Philippine Sea has earlier made a stop at the Georgian port of Batumi for exercises with the Georgian coast guard ships.

Sobyanin axes funding for the Black Sea Fleet

It has reported that the Mayor’s Office has scrapped the 2011 Moscow budget funding for Russia’s Black Sea fleet. The fleet is harbored in the Crimean town of Sevastopol in Ukraine. City Hall has traditionally bankrolled numerous international endeavors, ranging from children’s resorts in Bulgaria to sanatoriums in Israel, but the Black Sea fleet was always a flagship program for the previous mayor, Yury Luzhkov.

Luzhkov first began financially supporting the flotilla in 1994 as part of his Moscow-Sevastopol Fund, the declared goal of which was to preserve the fleet after the fall of the USSR. As part of the program, barracks were renovated, schools built for sailors’ children and teachers’ wages paid. The program even funded training missions for the Kerch antisubmarine ship and the Moskva rocket cruiser in the Mediterranean Sea. Funding for the program peaked in 2008, when it reached 160 million rubles. This year, 70.6 million rubles was earmarked for the fleet.

Luzhkov had always made no secret of his desire to see Sevastopol returned to Russian territory. Crimea was transferred from Russian territory to Ukraine as part of the USSR in 1954. Russia currently leases the base from Ukraine. In May 2008, Luzhkov was barred from entering Ukraine because “despite warnings he continued to call for actions that threaten Ukraine's national interests and territorial integrity," quoted Ukraine's Security Service as saying in a statement at the time.

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Vera Chistova, head of Moscow’s finance department, as saying on Wednesday that the program’s funds had been “ineffectively spent” and “distributed using skewed schemes.”

In August, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the cutback was reasonable. “Russia releases funds for rearmament so it makes no sense for the city to fund the armed forces,” said Sobyanin. Chistova backed Sobyanin on Wednesday saying that Defense Ministry has “enough resources to support their own military in Sevastopol.”

Konstantin Zatulin, a member of the committee of the State Duma for the CIS and relations with Russian nationals abroad, did not agree, however. “It was a poorly thought-out decision made by perfunctory, soulless people,” said Zatulin. “Is it such a large saving that it will seriously better the lives of Muscovites? They will not notice it, but in Sevastopol it will be very much noticed.”

General director of Political Information Center, Alexei Mukhin, warned that the move would hardly be welcomed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. “Working with Russian nationals abroad was recently named as a political priority for Russia, and this move contradicts the government’s policies,” said Mukhin. “That’s why after some time they will wind it back, and Sergei Sobyanin may well recommend that such a high status program not be dropped.”

Russian Black Sea Fleet Strengthens Presence In Ukraine

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Russian Navy plans to increase its presence on Ukrainian territory by adding urban infrastructure and civilian manpower to its naval assets in Sevastopol.
he command of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet intends to build a housing estate (“mikrorayon”) for 20,000 personnel of the fleet, their dependents, and civilian service providers to the Russian fleet in that city.

The housing estate and associated service infrastructure is planned to occupy both sides of Kazachya Bay, alongside the base of a Russian “marine infantry” (amphibious landing troops) regiment.

The government of Russia will finance this program from a fund dedicated to the socio-economic development of Sevastopol. That fund currently stems from the 2010 arrangements to subsidize Ukraine’s consumption of Russian gas.

The socio-economic fund’s value is deducted from the value of that subsidy. This portion, consequently, helps to consolidate Russia’s military foothold on Ukrainian territory.

The head of the Sevastopol city administration (by law a Ukrainian government appointee), Valery Saratov, has expressed gratitude in announcing this Russian building program.

On April 21, 2010, Presidents Viktor Yanukovych and Dmitry Medvedev signed the agreement to prolong the Russian Fleet’s basing rights in Ukraine beyond the 2017 expiration date, by another 25 years, with a further five-year extension option to 2047.

In return, Russia agreed to grant a 30 percent discount on the price of Russian natural gas to Ukraine, if that price exceeds $336 per one thousand cubic meters (tcm).

It now turns out, however, that an implementation mechanism and even a common understanding of that arrangement are lacking. On April 18, 2010 in Moscow, the Russian and Ukrainian Finance Ministers, Aleksei Kudrin and Fedir Yaroshenko, respectively, started negotiations on implementing the April 21, 2010 agreements.

The Russian side seems more interested in quibbling and stalling, than in delivering. Kudrin insisted that “a new agreement” must be negotiated to define “concrete terms and parameters, on which implementation would depend.”

For his part, Yaroshenko seemed to plead for overcoming a deadlock: “For us it is important to reach a common interpretation, define a common methodology for implementing this agreement in real life”.

While Kiev sounds anxious about Moscow delivering “in real life,” Moscow may well turn its side of the bargain into a dead letter. The price of gas seems unlikely to stay above $300 per tcm (unless Moscow decides to practice overt extortion and by the same token subsidize its own extortion of Ukraine).

Below that price level, Russia can still pressure Ukraine into further concessions, in return for further discounts on the gas price. This would probably be that “new agreement” to which Kudrin is alluding.

Moscow is well placed to implement the naval base extension agreement while bargaining over implementation of the gas price agreement. The April 2010 arrangements are asymmetrical in that the naval base agreement is self-enforcing while the gas agreement is not.

Ukraine lacks the power to withhold implementation or the former, while Russia has ample means to set conditions for implementing the latter.

Since those agreements were signed, Moscow has announced plans to replace old warships of its Black Sea Fleet with new ones, increase that Fleet’s tonnage in net terms, and upgrade the fleet’s weaponry.

Modernization plans as announced during 2010 envisage adding one cruiser, several frigates, and several submarines by 2015.

In addition, one Mistral-class amphibious attack ship (out of four planned for procurement from France) is supposed to be allocated to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Russia’s naval presence in Ukraine underscores the Ukrainian government’s lax interpretation of the country’s non-bloc status.

Ukraine’s current authorities have legislated for this status, and drastically curtailed cooperation with NATO, without developing a clear definition of the non-bloc status, or an international legal-political framework to ensure its observance.

Within this grey area, Russia suggests that it would consider modernizing and operating itself the Ukrainian radars in Sevastopol and Mukacheve, as contribution to a common anti-missile defense system.

Russia’s entrenchment in the Crimea has caught NATO, the United States, and the European Union distracted and wrong-footed. Some other actors now seek to develop a soft-security answer.

On January 20 in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution on the full range of security challenges in the Black Sea region.

Inspired by Romanian MEP’s, and intended for submission to the European Parliament’s plenum, the resolution expresses particular concern about the extension of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s lease on Ukrainian territory.

The resolution suggests that the EU should develop a conflict-prevention and early-warning system. This would serve to build confidence throughout the region and help prevent threat of force, its use or escalation.

Such a system would focus on arms transfers and naval activities. The proposal regards Russia as a desirable partner in such a system, alongside the EU and the Black Sea region’s countries (members or non-members of the EU). This area today faces key challenges that the EU cannot ignore.

With Ukraine's Blessing, Russia To Beef Up Its Black Sea Fleet

MOSCOW, Russia -- Moscow's upgrade to its Black Sea Fleet – headquartered with Ukraine's blessing at Sevastopol – could make waves around the Black Sea, where NATO has a strong presence.
Just a year ago Ukraine was insisting that Russia would be required to vacate the Crimean naval base of Sevastopol when its old lease expired in 2017. That would have posed serious problems for Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet, which is headquartered there.

But today, after pro-Moscow President President Viktor Yanukovych took office in February, Russia appears completely secure in its military foothold on Ukrainian soil until at least 2042.

In a quiet announcement Monday, Moscow revealed that – with Ukrainian consent – it will "upgrade" its Black Sea fleet over the next decade with at least 18 new warships, including six new frigates, six submarines, two giant troop-landing ships, and new squadrons of naval aircraft.

"I am quite sure that the Russian Black Sea fleet will stay in Ukraine till doomsday," says Kirill Frolov, an expert with the official Russian Institute of Commonwealth of Independent States.

The Russian naval upgrade is likely to cause waves around the Black Sea, which is bordered by NATO members Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Georgia.

The NATO aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet republics, had stirred strong concerns in Moscow. But with NATO rules stipulating that member countries may not host non-NATO foreign military bases on their soil, Mr. Yanukovych's agreement to prolong Russia's grip on Sevastopol would seem to block Ukraine from even considering joining the alliance for decades to come.

Since the narrow electoral victory Mr. Yanukovych in February, Ukraine's previous pro-Western drift has gone into sharp reverse. The Slavic neighbors now seem headed into a full strategic embrace.

Under former President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine was committed to quickly joining NATO, but Mr. Yanukovych put an end to that last April by quietly closing down the government commission that was preparing for the move.

According to an agreement last week between Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and his Ukrainian counterpart Mikhail Yezhel, Kiev is now on board with Moscow's wish to restore the potency of its Black Sea naval arm.

Until now, the Black Sea fleet has been mostly rusting at anchor in Sevastopol since the collapse of the USSR almost two decades ago.

When Russia and another NATO aspirant, Georgia, fought a brief summer war in 2008, Ukraine – which sympathized with Georgia – complained about the use of Black Sea fleet warships deployed against Georgia from Ukrainian territory without Kiev's permission.

Russia now says it will inform Ukraine about any future movements of the fleet in advance. Some Ukrainian analysts say that's not enough.

"If the fleet is situated on Ukrainian territory, any actions it makes should take Ukrainian interests into account," says Andrei Yermolayev, director of the Sofia Center, an independent think tank in Kiev. "I think Ukrainian military specialists, security experts and politicians have to be given facts about the modernization. We have a right to know what are Russia's plans, goals, and strategy."

Last week the two defense ministers also agreed to broaden military cooperation, including holding joint war games in Russia's southern region next summer.

"We think that modernizing the Black Sea Fleet is beneficial for Ukraine as well as Russia," says Mr. Frolov of the Russian Institute of Commonwealth of Independent States. "First, Russia is paying an enormous rent for the use of this base. Secondly, the fleet not only protects Russia but also Ukraine."
Last April, when Yanukovych agreed to extend the Russian Navy's lease on Sevastopol by 25 years in exchange for a 30 percent discount on Russian natural gas, the Ukrainian opposition in parliament hurled smoke bombs and denounced the deal as "a black page in Ukrainian history."

But protests Monday were muted, with Ukrainian analysts pointing out that the bargain to retain the Russian fleet in Sevastopol remains widely popular among Ukrainians – polls show that about 60 percent approve – and many hope the Russian presence will yield further economic benefits.

"I don't think anybody is very indignant about the Russians modernizing their fleet," says Viktor Nebozhenko, director of Ukrainian Barometer, an independent Kiev think tank.

"It's their own business. It would become intensely popular among Ukrainians if they decided to build some of those new ships in [the languishing Soviet-era military shipyards near the Ukrainian port of] Nikolayev," he adds. "We need the jobs."

Russia, Ukraine To Regulate Size Of The Black Sea Fleet

YALTA, Ukraine -- Moscow and Kiev will soon sign an agreement regulating the upcoming overhaul of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the Russian defense minister said on Wednesday.
"This new document will allow the Black Sea Fleet to maintain the number of personnel and weaponry at the levels stipulated in the 1997 Russian-Ukrainian accords on the Black Sea Fleet," Anatoly Serdyukov said after a meeting of CIS defense ministers in Ukraine's Crimea.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet is stationed in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol under a lease agreement. Moscow and Kiev recently signed a deal extending the lease on the fleet's base in Sevastopol for 25 years after the current lease expires in 2017.

Russia is seeking to bring its ageing Soviet-era fleet up to modern standards as part of a larger effort to modernize its armed forces.

At present, the Black Sea Fleet has about 40 operational vessels, including a single diesel-electric submarine, but most of them are slated for decommissioning.

Russian Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky earlier said that the fleet would be reinforced with 15 new combat ships and diesel-electric submarines by 2020.

Russian City Abroad

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- It doesn’t take long for a visitor to Sevastopol to notice evidence of the city’s historic role as a heroic defender of Russia. Souvenir stalls sell Russian flags, and monuments and street names refer to Russian naval commanders as well as cultural icons.
Ukrainian national symbols are confined to municipal buildings, including a conspicuously orange and blue post office on the main thoroughfare, Bolshaya Morskaya Street.

This image has been cultivated since its inception, as Mikhail Yurlov, a former Ukrainian diplomat and director of NGO Fund “Sevastopol,” as well as an advisor to the chairman of the Sevastopol City Administration, said: “Sevastopol is different to any other city in the Crimea, because it was built in 1783 as a Russian military fortress and developed as such over two centuries.”

This history, Yurlov believes, came to define its inhabitants’ mentality.

Leo Tolstoy’s first-hand accounts of the siege of the citadel during the Crimean War both reflected and added to this image in the mid-19th century. In “Sevastopol in December,” the first of Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Sketches, he describes the city under siege, noting: “The one central, reassuring conviction you have come away with is that it is quite impossible for Sevastopol ever to be taken by the enemy. Not only that: you are convinced that the strength of the Russian people cannot possibly ever falter, no matter in what part of the world it may be put to the test.”

When Sevastopol was besieged a second time during World War II, this imagery was revived and updated with new tales of heroism.
But a number of points contradict those who see Sevastopol as a purely Russian city, not least the fact that Sevastopol is now situated in an independent Ukraine. How the October Revolution and later Ukrainian independence affected the city and its Russian identity is a divisive issue, with some saying it is as Russian as ever and others recognizing other influences.

The first threat to Sevastopol’s Russian identity came with the advent of the Soviet Union and the introduction of a new ideology. Karl Qualls, an associate professor and department chair at Dickinson College and the author of “From Ruins to Reconstruction: Urban Identity in Soviet Sevastopol after World War II” sees the impact of Soviet thinking on the city’s identity as minimal.

“The city had been settled as primarily an ethnically Russian city throughout the 19th century, and the Soviets did nothing to change this,” he said.

Although Sevastopol faced the prospect of a Ukrainian identity in 1991, it would have had to have been created from scratch. Yurlov pointed to a subtle shift in the way Russia viewed the base after 1991, seeing it as something it leased rather than something it owned. But while various policies to Ukrainianize the city have been introduced in the last two decades, there remains resistance to certain innovations, such as changing the names of key locations: “War memorials, sacred places, etc. are all tied to Russia,” said Qualls.

“So even though children now learn Ukrainian language and history in school, their local history all points to Moscow. When they get married and take their photographs at monuments, where is the Ukrainian hero to honor? Taras Shevchenko? To my knowledge, he never even visited the city.”

Sergei Tsekhov, the spokesman for The Russian Community of Crimea and co-chairman of the political movement Russian Unity, also sees Sevastopol’s identity as something which continues to hinge on notions of Russianness.

“Not only is Russian feeling in Sevastopol not on the decline, it is stable and even increasing,” he said. “Changes in the status of a territory don’t change the spirit of a city or how the people who live there feel, which in Sevastopol is Russian.”

This is despite what Tsekhov describes as a policy of forced Ukrainianization, which is being carried out by the government in Kiev. “Ukrainianization is taking place in practically all spheres of life here,” he said.

“It is the policy of Ukraine to remove Russian from legal proceedings, education, but you hear Russian spoken everywhere. I think it is unnatural because everyone has the right to choose the language they use.”

Other potential alternative identities are represented by the Karaite Jewish community and the revival of Crimean Tatar culture. But the decimation of the former in World War II and the fact that the key sites of a newly flourishing Tatar culture are elsewhere on the peninsula make this relatively unlikely.

While the Ukrainian language has become more dominant in the city since Ukrainian independence, the weight of Russian history and myth could prove difficult to overcome, particularly while the Russian Black Sea Fleet continues to call the city its home.
For the time being, Sevastopol is still adapting to the news that the Black Sea Fleet will be housed in the city for some time. The previous Ukrainian government, under Viktor Yushchenko, had put a 2017 deadline on the Russian Navy’s presence in Sevastopol.

The new deal stipulates that the fleet will remain in Sevastopol until at least 2042, with an option to extend this to 2047. This agreement has a lot of popular support in Sevastopol, both among residents and those involved in the political and business spheres.

“The Black Sea Navy? I would like the Black Sea Fleet to stay forever,” said Yurlov. “As the Romans said, ‘if you want peace, prepare for war.’ Let it be an ingredient for the Black Sea collective security forces.”

Tsekhov also sees the extension of the lease in Sevastopol as a positive move, and not just for Russian organizations or Russian people in the Crimea. “The Black Sea Fleet is a big factor in Ukraine’s relationship with Russia. It also plays a part in the stability of our international relations. If they removed the fleet, I think that there would be a serious conflict with the local population and the Ukrainian government. It’s a big part of our lives,” he said.

Qualls describes the fleet as “a tangible symbol of Russianness in the city.” He believes that the lease extension will make the development of a stronger Ukrainian identity in Sevastopol difficult.

“I think it certainly extends the time until the city might become known as truly Ukrainian. Educating children in Ukrainian is a vital step. But until the Russian babushkas have passed away and are no longer able to undo what the Ukrainian education system is trying to do, there will remain a strong identification with Russia.”

Alongside its impact on the city’s identity, the deal struck in April could have wide-ranging consequences for the local economy. In the wake of the signing of the agreement, Medvedev ordered the Russian minister of defense to develop a social-economic plan for Sevastopol, although Yurlov notes that he is yet to see any sign of this.

The fund head also believes that the peak of Russian government investment in the city happened a long time ago. “I would be happy if the Russian government invested a lot in the city, but I don’t think it will ever be like it was before,” he said.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the scale of the Black Sea Fleet’s forces in Sevastopol has been reduced drastically. “To take just one example, before the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were 30 submarines and other warships, now Russia has only one in Sevastopol,” Yurlov noted.

This has had a great impact on the labor force in Sevastopol, a much larger proportion of which used to be employed making and repairing this equipment.

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov is another of Russia’s key investors in Sevastopol, and he has cut a controversial figure in recent years. The mayor has invested heavily, constructing housing for sailors, a secondary school and establishing a branch of Moscow State University in the city, as well as a business and cultural center called Moscow House.

But while this helped to make him popular with the locals, it has led to tension with the central Ukrainian government. “In my understanding, Moscow has been seen by locals as doing much more for the city than Kiev. If Russia continues to be a prominent financier of development, how and why would people feel gratitude to Kiev?” Qualls asked.

In May of 2008, following Luzhkov’s assertion that Sevastopol should not have been transferred to Ukraine along with the rest of Crimea in February of 1954, he was banned from entering Ukraine. This ban was lifted two years later, and Luzhkov was in Sevastopol to celebrate Navy Day in late July this year.

During this trip he announced a three million dollar investment plan, pledging finance and support for projects including housing and education facilities in Sevastopol, to be carried out between 2011 and 2013.

Yurlov notes that the tone of Luzhkov’s rhetoric has changed, which he sees as a positive development. “The fund’s main activity is to attract investment, so when Luzhkov, one of the most important Russian investors in Sevastopol, was a persona non grata, it put Russians off further investment,”he said.

Not all Russian investment and involvement in the city enjoys such popular support, however. Yurlov pointed to Russian Konstantin Grigorishin and Ukrainian “chocolate king” Petro Poroshenko as two businessmen who have caused controversy with their investment strategy in Sevastopol.

“They bought shares in the Sevastopol Marine Plant, a large shipbuilding and repairing facility, which had always been a symbol of the town. But they weren’t interested in the traditional industry that had been based there for more than 200 years. They almost closed the factory and tried to turn it into a residential and entertainment complex. This was very unpopular in Sevastopol. Although these plans have not been implemented for various reasons, the plant now employs only 200 people, where before more than 16,000 worked there,” he said.
For Yurlov, the demise of certain industries linked to the Black Sea Fleet and the rise of alternatives has changed the city significantly. “Sevastopol is already more than just a naval base,” he said. “Therefore it needs to diversify its economy and create a brand which is not just related to the two naval bases that it houses.”

To do this Yurlov and his colleagues are working on a new regional development plan for Sevastopol that they hope will retain elements of the Black Sea Fleet while also expanding Sevastopol as a city of international economy, culture, science and tourism.

The city is aiming to secure cooperation with organizations such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to implement the scheme.

Yurlov cites Singapore as a good example: “In 1960 when the British left, the local authorities went to the UNDP, which told them to develop a special economic zone. Singapore is now one of the largest industrial-financial centers in the world.”

And the city is already benefitting from external help. A “Strategic Investment Plan” adopted by Sevastopol City Council was elaborated with the help of USAID. And Director of the EU Delegation’s Office in Ukraine Ambassador José Manuel Pinto Teixeira has also announced a € 12 million ($ 15 million) joint cooperation initiative in Crimea.

Russia's Putin Meets Ukraine's Yanukovych

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, rides a Harley Davidson Lehman Trike as he arrives for the meeting with Russian and Ukrainian motor bikers at their camp near Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, 24 Jul 2010.

FOROS, Ukraine -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vyktor Yanukovych held talks on a wide-range of issues Saturday in Ukraine.
The meeting took place at Mr. Yanukovych's vacation home in the town of Foros on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. Russian media reports say the talks focused on trade issues.

Prior to the meeting, Mr. Putin participated in a motorcycle rally near the port city of Sevastopol on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. Mr. Putin roared to the rally on a Harley Davidson mortorcyle where he addressed thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts.

Mr. Putin's visit to the Crimea coincides with Russia's Navy Day, which is observed Sunday. Sevastopol is home to Ukrainian naval forces and to Russia's Black Sea fleet.

Speaking on Saturday Mr. Putin said it was symbolic of the friendship between Russia and Ukraine that both Russian and Ukrainian seamen will celebrate the Russian holiday.

The Russian base at Sevastopol was a major issue of contention between Russia and Ukraine after the break up of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine's previous government wanted the Russian fleet to leave after its lease expired in 2017. However after Mr. Yanukovych came to power in February, Moscow and Kyiv signed an agreement to extend the Russian lease by another 25 years to the year 2042.

Luzhkov no longer persona non-grata in Ukraine

Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has thanked President Viktor Yanukovych for canceling the decision to declare him persona non grata in Ukraine, a decision that prohibited him from entering the country.

Luzhkov was speaking in Simferopol at a meeting with the leadership of the Crimea.

"I want to express heartfelt gratitude to Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych for the decision that he made, which once again granted me the opportunity to directly resolve issues of interrelations in various areas between Moscow and the Crimea, between Moscow and regions of Ukraine," Luzhkov said.

According to Luzhkov, the election of the new authorities in Ukraine marked the beginning of a new area in Ukraine's relations with Ukraine.

"The muddy times and the unreasonable times are in the past," Luzhkov said

According to him, it is unreasonable to disunite Russians and Ukrainians because they are people with the same fate.

"Those times were connected with [attempts to] push our countries apart from each other in political terms. They were fundamentally unreasonable because our people are the closest of relatives, brotherly people, and people with a single fate. Regarding economics, little reasonable was said, it was wildness, the wildness of isolation that resulted in the most serious of losses in our ability to solve social problems, solve developmental problems," Luzhkov said.

Luzhkov was banned from entering Ukraine on May 12, 2008, for his statements about the ownership of Sevastopol.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Parliamentary Deputy Viacheslav Kyrylenko of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc said on July 9, 2010, that Luzhkov was no longer persona non grata in Ukraine.

Luzhkov said at a press conference on July 19 that he had not abandoned his conviction that Sevastopol was a Russian city.

Russia's Moskva Missile Cruiser Sets Off To Its Naval Base In Ukraine

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- The flagship of the Black Sea fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, has set off from the port of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East to its home port in Ukraine's Sevastopol, a Navy spokesman said on Wednesday.
The Moskva missile cruiser was participating in Russia's Vostok 2010 military drills jointly with the flagship of the Northern Fleet, the Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, and the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, the Varyag guided-missile cruiser.

"After a short rest in Vladivostok, the Moskva set off for the Black Sea to its home base in the port of Sevastopol. It will have to pass across the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans," the spokesman said.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet is stationed in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol under a lease agreement. Moscow and Kiev signed earlier in the year a deal extending the lease on the fleet's base in Sevastopol for 25 years after the current lease expires in 2017.

Vostok-2010 exercises in Siberia and the country's Far East started on June 29 and ended on July 8. They involved 20,000 troops, up to 2,500 pieces of military hardware, 70 warplanes and 30 warships.

During the exercises, warships of the three Russian fleets conducted live firing at naval and aerial drones and practiced combat interoperability and repelling simulated attacks by hostile submarines and aircraft.

Russia holds Vostok strategic command-and-staff drills every two years.

Ukraine's Sevastopol Commemorates Holocaust

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- The Crimean city of Sevastopol on Sunday commemorated those 4,200 Crimean Jews and an residents of the Crimean Peninsula slaughtered by the Nazi German in 1942, Ukraine's Unian news agency said.
The rally-requiem was opened by a sad Jewish melody and continued with a prayer by Sevastopol's Chief Rabbi Benyamin Volf.

Representatives of local social and cultural organizations participated in the ceremony.

The Nazis gathered together Jews and other city residents at a Sevastopol's stadium in July 1942 and told them they would be taken out of the city for agricultural work. However, Nazis shot down all these people.

The slaughter occurred on July 12. The next days Nazis searched out for other Jews who ducked for cover.

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine — Glory, tragedy and an army of ghosts haunt this great naval base that commands the Crimea and surrounding Black Sea.
I had been invited by Britain’s 8th Hussars to commemorate the 150th anniversary of their unit’s participation in the fabled Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava. Alas, a serious injury prevented me from going to Crimea, a place I had studied and dreamed about since boyhood.

As I sailed Sevastopol’s magnificent natural harbour, I was gripped by the drama of the place.

In 1854, a British, French, Turkish and Sardinian force attacked Crimea to stop the expanding Russian Empire from gobbling up the dying Ottoman Empire.

The Crimean War was a nightmare for the soldiers involved. Disease killed four times more than combat, provoking a refined lady named Florence Nightingale to open Britain’s first field hospital at Balaclava.

Sevastopol was besieged for 349 days. Its bastions and redoubts were brilliantly defended by Russian soldiers and sailors. Combat was brutal. The British hogged most of the military glory, but the French really won the siege.

In September, 1855, French Zouave elite infantry in baggy red pants, blue vests and tasseled hats finally stormed the great Malakoff Redoubt, breaking Russian defenses.

Near the British supply base at Balaclava, Lord Cardigan’s Light Brigade misunderstood its orders and charged to its doom against Russian guns.

Nearby, in a now forgotten action, Gen. Scarlett’s Heavy Brigade staged a brilliant charge against massed Russian cavalry.

Pictures painted by the great Victorian artist, Lady Butler — Charge of the Heavy Brigade, and the famous Thin Red Line of Highlanders defending Balaclava — hang in my home.

Most of Sevastopol was destroyed by British-French bombardment. Eight decades later, in 1941, Germany attacked Crimea. The ablest German general, Erich von Manstein, led his 11th Army into Crimea and besieged Sevastopol, defended by 236,000 Soviet sailors and soldiers.

The Germans used enormous siege guns against the port’s fortifications, including “Thor,” a monster 800-mm railroad gun, and a 615-mm mortar, “Schwerer Gustav.” Both had been secretly built to crush France’s Maginot Line forts.

Sevastopol held out for nine months of ferocious fighting in which almost all the Soviet defenders died or became prisoners. I explored the ruins of the Maxim Gorky 305-mm battery which fought to its last round, then was blown up. Photos of its valiant defenders hang on its concrete walls.

On May 9, 1944, the 2nd Soviet Guards Army recaptured Crimea and Sevastopol. Ninety-eight percent of the city lay in ruins. Soviet leader Stalin proclaimed Sevastopol a “Hero City of the Soviet Union,” along with Leningrad and Stalingrad, and ordered it rebuilt to its former neo-classical beauty.

Sevastopol was just back in the news. Ending a rancorous dispute with Moscow, Ukraine’s new government renewed Russia’s lease on the Black Sea Fleet’s Sevastopol base until 2042 in exchange for $40 billion worth of deeply discounted natural gas. Ukraine had previously been unable to pay its national heating bills, facing a Russian shut-off in winter.

I observed morning formation aboard one of the sleek Russian destroyers, bristling with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. Watching the sailors raise their fleet’s historic battle standard, the blue Cross of St. Andrew, seemed a fitting tribute to Sevastopol’s suffering.

Ukraine is doing surprisingly well. The new government of Viktor Yanukovich says Ukraine will not join NATO but rather maintain close relations with Russia. All the empty sound and fury of the former pro-western Orange government is unlamented by many Ukrainians who crave political peace. So far, Ukrainians and Russians seem to be getting along.

Warm, sunny Sevastopol and Odessa are becoming Ukraine’s Riviera. The scenic little port of Balaclava, with its former Soviet underground submarine base that housed nuclear weapons, is thronged by pleasure boats and yachts.

Sevastopol has belonged to Ukraine since the 1954. But its soil is soaked deep by Russian blood, and in spirit, Russian it will always remain.

Heads of Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian presidential administrations to celebrate Victory Day in Sevastopol

Heads of Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian presidential administrations are to hold a working meeting and take part in the celebration of the Victory Day on May 9 in Sevastopol.

The press service of the head of state told Interfax-Ukraine on Saturday that the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Serhiy Lyovochkin, head of the Russian presidential administration Serhiy Naryshkin and head of the Belarusian presidential administration Vladimir Makei will lay flowers to the Glory stele at the Sapun-Gora memorial on Sunday. They will be presented at the parade and meet veterans on the Prymorsky Avenue.

"Heads of presidential administrations plan to discuss preparations for a meeting of Viktor Yanukovych, Dmitry Medvedev and Alexander Lukashenko on the border of the three states and improvement of cooperation between presidential administrations of the three countries at a working meeting,".

Ukrainian Opposition Denounces Deal With Russia

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian opposition leaders on Friday denounced a deal allowing Russia to keep its navy in Ukraine for another quarter of a century, saying it amounted to ceding control over the nation's territory.
The agreement is the first concrete sign that newly-elected President Viktor Yanukovych will steer Ukraine back into Russia's orbit, reversing his pro-Western predecessor's attempts to decrease Moscow's influence.

In return, Moscow gave the ex-Soviet republic steep discounts for the Russian natural gas on which its industries depend.

Wednesday's deal signed by Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev allows Russia to extend its lease of the Black Sea Port of Sevastopol for another 25 years after the current lease agreement expires in 2017.

Former President Viktor Yushchenko, who now leads opposition party Our Ukraine, said the deal amounted to Russia's "military occupation."

The agreement is set to come up for ratification next Tuesday in both Russia and Ukraine. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who leads the biggest opposition faction in parliament, urged lawmakers to vote against the deal.

She said Friday that the agreement is a "strategic mistake" that would mean that "Ukraine has lost control over its territory."

But the opposition faces an uphill battle in trying to block the ratification in parliament, which is controlled by Yanukovych's party and its allies.

The opposition denounced the deal as illegal, saying that the constitution does not allow foreign troops to stay in Ukraine. But supporters of the agreement point at another section of the constitution that allows them to stay temporarily with parliament's approval.

Yushchenko pledged to join efforts with Tymoshenko, his fierce political rival, to block the ratification, but even he predicted that the majority coalition in parliament will have its way.

Some opposition lawmakers in the federal parliament and regional legislatures talked about launching impeachment proceedings against Yanukovych.

"Yanukovych's actions should be treated as a state treason, and an impeachment procedure should be launched in parliament," said Borys Tarasyuk, former foreign minister in Tymoshenko's government, who currently chairs a parliamentary committee on the European integration.

Analysts said the pact will trigger a deeper split in Ukrainian society between the Russian-speaking east and south and the western regions where nationalist sentiments run strong.

"The first evident consequence is a significant rise of temperature in Ukrainian politics," said political analyst Igor Zhdanov.

Ukraine extends Russia's Black Sea Fleet lease

Kiev and Moscow have agreed to extend the lease allowing Russia's Black Sea Fleet to be stationed in Ukraine by 25 years in return for cheaper gas.

The deal was signed by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

The lease of Russia's naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, had been due to expire in 2017.

It was not immediately clear if the extension would be effective from now or from 2017.

Mr Yanukovych's pro-Western predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, had opposed any extension of the lease.

Mr Yushchenko, who was ousted in presidential elections earlier this year, had wanted Ukraine to join Nato - a move strongly opposed by the Kremlin.

Mr Yanukovych and Mr Medvedev signed the agreement after talks in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv.

Mr Yanukovych, who had pledged to deal with all issues causing tensions between Kiev and Moscow during the Yushchenko administration, said the deal was agreed because "it was important for our Russian colleagues and friends".

He said that the move would have a positive impact for stability in the Black Sea region and Europe.

The deal also has a clause allowing the lease to be extended for a further five years.

In return, Russia agreed to grant Ukraine a discount on imports of Russian gas.

The complicated formula would give Ukraine a discount of $100 for every 1,000 cubic metres of gas providing the benchmark rate was above $330 or a discount of 30% if the rate was lower than that.

Ukraine currently pays $305 per 1,000 cubic metres.

In the past few years, tensions between Moscow and Kiev have led Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy giant, to switch off the taps on a number of occasions, affecting a number of European countries.

Europe gets a quarter of its gas from Russia, and most of that arrives via an extensive network of pipelines running through Ukraine.

Ukraine's Crimea Sparkles With A Variety Of Impressions

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- The hills of this region are a golden yellow hue because of the sunburnt grass. The houses are painted in bright colours to reflect the heat of the sun and beyond the poplar tree avenues cypresses stretch into the sky.
It could almost be Tuscany in Italy were it not for the numerous examples of Lenin statues and red stars. What at first glance appears to be a scene in Tuscany is in fact Ukraine's Crimea. If you want a bit more history than Dolce Vita when on holiday, then the Crimean peninsula is perfect.

Crimea's characteristic limestone landscape is the first thing you see from the plane. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of caves to be found in the porous rock. "Humans lived in these caves over 300,000 years ago," says Dimitri Udonov, a tour guide on the peninsula. "During the war first Russian, and then German soldiers, took refuge here. Each cave was a battlefield."

For three-quarters of a century Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. It is impossible to avoid that long phase of the country's history. Lenin, for example, is ever present when walking around Sevastopol with its 300,000 residents. Hammer and sickle symbols can still be seen everywhere.

Beyond the symbols of former Soviet might there are plenty of examples of Crimea's cultural side such as the city of Kherson. In the year 988 AD Tsar Vladimir was baptised there, thus opening Russia to the Christian religion.

Beside the ruins of the church where he was baptised a magnificent basilica stands today. Corinthian columns and other architectural remains testify to human habitation over 2,500 years.

This region was the home of the Crimean Tartars for several hundred years. The Tartars were the successors to the tribe of Genghis Khan. Kherson is the location for the ancient residence of the Khan's governing body, the Divan. Today, visitors can view the fountain inside the Harem room, which once inspired the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

In 1855 another great literary figure arrived in the Crimea to observe the conflict then taking place: Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy witnessed Russia's attack on Turkey and the attempt by Britain and France to defend the country.

Later, their attempt to contain Russian expansion would lead to the Crimean war - the first modern war using machineguns and ironclad warships. Russia eventually failed in its attempt and was forced to sell its possession in Alaska to raise funds to pay its debts. The battlefields of Balklava and Inkerman are today favoured destinations of British tourists.

World War Two also left its mark on the Crimea. Of the 2.2 million German Wehrmacht soldiers that died on the eastern front, 400,000 are buried there. "20,500 are buried in Goncharov but we are constantly adding more to the list," says Maria Ivanova who works for the German War Graves Commission.

"In the past war veterans used to come here. They were old men who would suddenly break out into tears," she recalls. "But today it's their children who are 60-years-old and more who want to know where their fathers spent their final hours."

To this day the Crimea remains a place of dispute. Russia would like to have authority over the region which was given to Ukraine in 1954. Russia's Black Sea fleet is stationed there and the Crimea remains a very popular destination for Russian holidaymakers.

It also appears that Ukraine is divided into eastern and western oriented citizens. But all of them are united when it comes to wine. The local wine is the best in the world, according to Ukrainians, and Crimean sparkling wine rates alongside Champagne

Black Sea Fleet ships taking part in tactical maneuvers

Black Sea Fleet ships taking part in tactical maneuvers

Yuschenko approves new Ukrainian team of Black Sea Fleet subcommittee

Kyiv, February 15 - Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has approved the new composition of the Ukrainian part of the Ukrainian-Russian interstate commission's subcommittee for operation of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and its deployment on the territory of Ukraine. Yuschenko signed a relevant decree on Monday, the presidential press service reported.First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohy replaced former Deputy Foreign Minister Yuriy Kostenko (who was appointed Ukraine's Ambassador to China) as chairman of the Ukrainian part of the subcommittee. Head of one of the Foreign Ministry's branches Leonid Tretiak replaced Yevhen Tsymbaliuk as secretary of the Ukrainian part of the subcommittee.Other new members of the commission include First Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Construction Serhiy Dorotych, expert of the foreign policy department of the National Security and Defense Council Volodymyr Kvasiuk, deputy head of Sevastopol City State Administration Oleksandr Klimov, Deputy Finance Minister Andriy Kravets, Deputy Justice Minister Valeria Lutkovska, Director of Foreign Ministry's Arms Control and Military-Technical Cooperation Department Oleksandr Nykonenko, deputy chief of the Security Service of Ukraine Anatoliy Pavlenko, Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers Vitaliy Stadnyk, deputy minister of transport and communications Mikhailo Chubay, Acting Deputy Head of the State Property Fund Oleh Shmuliar and first deputy chief of the State Ecological Inspectorate Ihor Yakovlev.The Ukrainian part of subcommittee on the functioning of the Russian Black Sea Fleet consists of 31 people.

Russia And Ukraine In Intensifying Standoff

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine — A year after its war with Georgia, Russia is engaging in an increasingly hostile standoff with another pro-Western neighbor, Ukraine.
Relations between the two countries are more troubled than at any time since the Soviet collapse, as both sides resort to provocations and recriminations. And it is here on the Crimean Peninsula, home to a Russian naval base, where the tensions are perhaps most in danger of bursting into open conflict.Late last month, the Ukrainian police briefly detained Russian military personnel who were driving truckloads of missiles through this port city, as if they were smugglers who had come ashore with a haul of contraband. Local officials, it seemed, were seeking to make clear that this was no longer friendly terrain.Ukraine has in recent years been at the forefront of the effort by some former Soviet republics to switch their alliances to the West, and it appears that the Kremlin has, in some sense, had enough.President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia denounced Ukraine this month for “anti-Russian” policies, citing in particular its “incessant attempts” to harass Russia’s naval base in Sevastopol. Mr. Medvedev condemned Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership and its support for Georgia, and said he would not send an ambassador to Ukraine.And the criticism has not let up since then.Monday was Ukrainian independence day, and Russian prosecutors used the occasion to accuse Ukrainian soldiers and members of Ukrainian nationalist groups of fighting alongside Georgia’s military in the war last August. The Ukrainians denied the charges, but they underscored the bitterness in Moscow.For its part, the Ukrainian government, which took power after the Orange Revolution of 2004, has repeatedly accused Russia of acting as a bully and trying to dominate the former Soviet space both militarily and economically.Looming is a presidential election in Ukraine in January, which might cause Ukrainian candidates to respond more aggressively to Russia to show their independence. The Kremlin might seek to exploit the situation to help pro-Russian politicians in Kiev.Both countries publicly avow that they do not want the bad feelings to spiral out of control.Still, they persist, especially in Sevastopol, where Russia has maintained a naval base since czarist times.The Kremlin has bristled at what it sees as Ukraine’s disrespectful governing of a city that it formerly controlled — one that was the site of momentous military battles, including in the Crimean War and World War II.Ukraine appears to regard the base as a sign that Russia still wants to project its military might over the region.The Ukrainians have not only briefly detained Russian military personnel transporting missiles on several occasions this summer. They also expelled a Russian diplomat who oversees naval issues and barred officers from the F.S.B., the Russian successor to the K.G.B., from working in Sevastopol.The Ukrainians are trying to close a nearby Russian navigation station and are threatening penalties over supposed pollution from Russian vessels off Sevastopol, which is on the south of the Crimean Peninsula.“Ukraine has become more demanding, and has a right to do that,” said the Sevastopol mayor, Sergei V. Kunitsyn, an appointee of the Ukrainian government.Mr. Kunitsyn said Russian military trucks transporting missiles in Sevastopol had been stopped and searched by the police because their route had not been approved in advance, as is required under accords signed by Russia.He insisted that day-to-day interactions involving the Russian fleet were being carried out in a businesslike manner in Sevastopol, a city of 350,000.He said Ukraine was not trying to oust the Russian fleet, though he did raise the prospect of additional pressure.“If we wanted to, they would have such problems that they would never be able to leave the port,” he said. “According to the law, we could find 1,000 reasons why the fleet could simply not live.”The Crimean Peninsula, which has two million people, is part of Ukraine through something of a historic fluke. In 1954, Nikita S. Khrushchev, then the Soviet leader, transferred it to Ukraine from Russia, though at the time the decision had little significance because both were part of the Soviet Union.Besides serving as host for the Black Sea Fleet, the peninsula had a cherished role in the Soviet era as a vacation spot, with beaches and abundant fruits and vegetables.After the Soviet fall, Russia reached a deal with Ukraine to maintain the base in Sevastopol, under a lease that ends in 2017. The Ukrainian president, Viktor A. Yushchenko, has declared that it will not be renewed, though his successors may not concur.The current concern is that a spark in Crimea — however unlikely — could touch off a violent confrontation or even the kind of fighting that broke out between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia.The situation is particularly uneasy because the population in Crimea is roughly 60 percent ethnic Russian and would prefer that the peninsula separate from Ukraine and be part of Russia. (Sevastopol has an even higher proportion of ethnic Russians.)People have been upset by new Ukrainian government policies that require the use of the Ukrainian language, rather than Russian, in government activities, including some courses in public schools. Throughout downtown Sevastopol last week, residents set up booths to gather signatures on petitions in an effort to overturn the regulations.And on Monday, Ukrainian independence day, ethnic Russians in Crimea held anti-Ukrainian demonstrations.Sergei P. Tsekov, a senior politician in Crimea who heads the main ethnic Russian communal organization, said he hoped that Russia would wholeheartedly endorse Crimean separatism just as it did the aspirations of South Ossetia and another Georgian enclave, Abkhazia.“The central authorities in Ukraine are provoking the people of Crimea,” Mr. Tsekov said. “They relate to us like Georgia related to the Abkhazians and South Ossetians. They think that we’re going to forget our roots, our language, our history, our heroes. Only stupid people would think that we’re going to do that. Unfortunately, stupid people currently lead Ukraine.”Crimean separatists have been encouraged by prominent politicians in Russia, including Moscow’s mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov, and a senior member of Parliament, Konstantin F. Zatulin, both of whom have been barred from Ukraine by the government because of their assertions that Sevastopol belongs to Russia.The Kremlin has not publicly backed the separatists, though it has declared that the rights of ethnic Russians in Crimea must not be violated.While not denying frictions between Russia and Ukraine, Mr. Kunitsyn, Sevastopol’s mayor, said ethnic Russians in the city were more worried about the local economy than who was in charge of the local government. He said employment in military and merchant fleets had dropped sharply.“People are slowly getting used to the idea that Sevastopol is Ukraine’s, and that Ukraine is helping Sevastopol,” he said.Near the harbor, though, residents did not necessarily agree.Larisa G. Bakanova, 74, a retired teacher, was at a petition booth not far from a monument to Adm. Pavel S. Nakhimov, who led Russia’s defense of Sevastopol in the Crimean War in the 1850s. She said people had eagerly signed up to oppose Ukrainian language mandates.“The pressure from Kiev is more and more intense,” she said. “They are stirring us up. They need to understand that this is the city of Sevastopol — a city of military glory, a city of Russian glory.”

Russia Admits Violation In Ukraine Base Incident

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia made a rare admission on Sunday that it had violated Ukrainian law by trying to transport cruise missiles outside its Black Sea naval base of Sevastopol.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian police blocked a convoy of Russian trucks from leaving the base to transport missiles through the Ukrainian city, adding to tensions between the two ex-Soviet states."We acknowledged there were violations of basic agreements on basing the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol," RIA quoted Russian navy commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky as saying."We believe those were serious violations," he said. "Those responsible will be punished, quite heavily at that."Vysotsky, who was in Sevastopol to mark Russia's annual Navy Day, said the paperwork dealing with the convoy had not been not done properly.Moscow leases a base for its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, a port in the Crimea peninsula populated mainly by ethnic Russians. The status of the base has been a thorn in relations between Moscow and Kiev since Ukraine's independence in 1991.Ukraine, which has committed itself to closer ties with the West and whose President Viktor Yushchenko is pressing for NATO membership, wants Russia to close the base in 2017 as stipulated by existing agreements.Russia sees NATO expansion up to its borders as a threat to its security and was troubled by joint Ukrainian-NATO naval exercises last July in the Black Sea.Tensions hit a peak the following month, when Russia sent warships from the base to Georgia during its five-day war with the Caucasus state. Yushchenko backed Georgia in the conflict.The two sides have traded accusations over a series of incidents concerning the base and in the past have been reluctant to acknowledge any guilt.Relations are also marred by disputes over Russia's gas supply to Ukraine and its transit to Europe.

Ukraine Tightens The Screw In Sevastopol

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yushchenko announced his bid for a second term on July 18 defying pundits who believed his low popularity of 2-3 percent would deter him. Yushchenko used the highest peak in Ukraine - Hoverla in the Carpathians - to declare his bid for re-election, following a tradition set on Hoverla in 2002 (when he launched the Our Ukraine political party) and 2004 (when he announced his presidential candidacy).
Yushchenko's election speech included little concerning everyday realities facing Ukrainians such as the global financial crisis, but it was instead full of references to Ukrainian national identity, the re-writing of history, historical memory, language and the nation.The speech - as reflected in actual presidential policies in the Crimea - points to Yushchenko following Leonid Kravchuk in 1994 in campaigning for re-election on a nationalistic platform.Yushchenko had targeted the Black Sea Fleet during the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war, passing two decrees that sought to restrict its ability to move in and out of Sevastopol without Ukrainian authorization.The Black Sea Fleet, which sent vessels and marines to the August 2008 war, refused to abide by these decrees, while the Ukrainian president did not seek to enforce them in the face of Russian objections.Typically, the decrees therefore remained on paper reinforcing the Yulia Tymoshenko government's view that it was pointless issuing them, since it would not have risked a direct confrontation over the Black Sea Fleet.Most Ukrainian politicians have always sought to grudgingly accept its presence, through a temporary twenty year provision in the Ukrainian constitution that bans foreign bases, and hope that Russia will abide by the treaty and withdraw in 2017.This approach to Sevastopol and the fleet only served to embolden Russia to act with impunity and ignore the 1997 basing agreement and Ukrainian legislation, whether through illegally occupying buildings, such as lighthouses, or transporting missiles through Crimean towns without Ukrainian authorization.In addition, Russia - particularly Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov - invested large financial sums into Sevastopol while Kyiv ignored the challenge of raising Ukraine's profile in the port by financing socio-economic and educational institutions. Sevastopol has a large shopping mall named "Moscow" and branches of the Moscow State University provided by the mayor of Moscow.Yushchenko has ordered law enforcement agencies to investigate Russian activities in Sevastopol. Yushchenko believes that they are "directed not only against the state, but against us all, against our families, and our children. These are those projects that bring instability and squabbles".Yushchenko has also lobbied for the idea of removing Sevastopol's Soviet era special status which combined with Kyiv, gives it an all-republican status. His aim is to integrate Sevastopol with the Crimea. In Yushchenko's criticism of Russian projects he in effect called for the Ukrainianization of Sevastopol by tying it closer to Ukraine geographically and through promoting Ukrainian national identity and military traditions.Luzhkov denied Yushchenko's charges that its Sevastopol education and economic projects were "unfriendly" and a "provocation against Ukraine," counter claiming that the Ukrainian authorities have invested little themselves.Moreover, Yushchenko has also tightened the screws on Sevastopol in other ways. On July 8 a Russian military convoy of three trucks transporting SS-N-2 short and SS-N-9 medium range missiles without permits through Sevastopol was intercepted by Ukrainian Interior Ministry (MVS) Special Forces. The missiles were en route to a technical repair base 30 kilometers outside the port that is used by the fleet.SS-N-9 missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, were used as conventional weapons during the fleet's intervention in the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. The Russian foreign ministry protested at the Ukrainian intervention claiming that transporting missiles was permitted by the 1997 agreement. "Our sailors were not conducting any new type of action," the statement said.On July 21 another Russian convoy was halted by MVS traffic police that was transporting "Malakhit" missiles without a permit or the required fire engine escort, while three more trucks carrying missiles were stopped on July 23.Earlier this year Ukraine protested over plans to add a submarine to the Black Sea Fleet, claiming it cannot be enlarged without Ukraine's consent. A separate addendum would have to be agreed to the 1997 basing agreement in order to permit the fleet's expansion.Russia continues to distribute passports to Crimean's thereby infringing Ukrainian legislation, which does not permit dual citizenship. The practice, used extensively in South Ossetia, permitted Russia to claim that it was intervening to protect "Russian citizens" from "Georgian aggression" and could thereby provide a similar pretext for a future Russian intervention in Sevastopol, in the event of a Ukrainian crackdown on separatists.Another widely used infringement is the violation of Ukrainian immigration laws by the fleet's personnel. Last month it protested against Ukraine's new policy of checking the documentation of Russian naval personnel, claiming it was an "unfriendly move directed against Russian-Ukrainian relations".The Ukrainian interior ministry, which oversees the issuing of passports and immigration controls, estimated that 10 percent of illegal immigrants in Sevastopol were Russian sailors.The Black Sea Fleet has positively responded to one Ukrainian demand and requested permission (for the first time in 18 years) to hold its annual parade. A spokesman from the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow said that, "this step will strengthen the practice of providing full respect by the Russian side towards Ukrainian sovereignty, its legislation and the bilateral agreement that regulates the basing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on Ukrainian territory".Equally, Russia is likely to negatively respond to the majority of Ukrainian demands. Although Russia is conducting an ideological campaign against Ukraine (EDM, June 12) and is openly provocative, Yushchenko's nationalist election platform is likely to maintain tense relations with Russia, while deepening Western European suspicions of him as a Russophobe.Consequently, this might reduce Ukraine's prospects to pursue closer European integration. Yushchenko's nationalistic campaign for a second term repeats that of Kravchuk's desperate attempt for re-election in the 1994 pre-term presidential elections.However, Yushchenko's nationalist platform, reminiscent of Kravchuk's, is likely to fail while also undermining the young pretender Arseniy Yatseniuk's campaign -by splitting the Our Ukraine vote between two candidates.