The Black Sea Fleet dispute took place between Russia and Ukraine following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The dispute revolved around ownership of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet, basing rights in Sevastopol, the home base of the fleet, and sovereignty over Crimea. The dispute began in 1992 and involved a series of negotiations and maritime incidents, before being finally settled in 1997 through the Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet.
Background
In 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia emerged as sovereign nations. The dissolution kicked off the process of dividing former Soviet assets between the newly established republics. Along with the ownership of nuclear weapons located in Ukraine, the ownership of the Black Sea Fleet emerged as one of the most contentious issues. Moreover, with the fleet's home base being located in Sevastopol, the question of who would retain the basing rights there also remained open. Finally, the issue of sovereignty over the entire Crimean Peninsula also surfaced, with the peninsula having 78% ethnic Russian population, although it was turned over from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR on 5 February 1954 by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to mark the 300th anniversary of the 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement, which led to the incorporation of the Trans-Dnepr Ukraine into Russia.
Having emerged as an independent nation, the dispute over Black Sea Fleet ownership was more of an issue of strengthening this newly acquired sovereignty for Ukraine rather than that of acquiring an entirely new fleet as Ukraine could not afford its maintenance costs. More principal issues than ownership of the vessels were the basing rights in Sevastopol and sovereignty over Crimea, which Ukraine sought to maintain. For Russia, the principal issue was to acquire the ships and the basing rights, which was preferred to be on a sovereign territory of Russia. It was of symbolic importance for Russia, in order to project its power on its southern flank in relation to Turkey, the Caucasus and the future Caspian oil flows. Russia sought to establish a powerful presence in the region.
The Black Sea Fleet was established in 1783 by Russian empress Catherine the Great. The estimates of the number of ships in the Black Sea Fleet varied, with different estimates ranging from 300 to 635. Many of these ships were described as aging. The Black Sea Fleet, according to the think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, numbered some 45 surface warships, 28 submarines and 300 other vessels, plus 151 combat fixed-wing aircraft and 85 helicopters. The ships have been described as "prestigious but rotting". The fleet had 70,000 sailors, of whom 30 percent were Ukrainians.
The Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was founded by the ex-Soviet republics, including Ukraine and Russia, in place of the Soviet Union in December 1991, and on 30 December agreements were signed in Minsk allowing each republic to have its own army, while "strategic forces" were to be under CIS command. As Ukraine moved closer towards creating its own military, it led to the issue of ownership of Black Sea Fleet surfacing in the relations of two countries.
Overview
The dispute involved protracted negotiations over the fleet, with there being different stages in the negotiations. The dispute over the Black Sea Fleet ships took precedence during an early stage. The central point during the very beginning of talks was whether the fleet would be divided at all or placed under joint CIS command. After reaching an agreement on splitting the fleet, the issue of the allocation of bases surfaced and became the most contentious one, which led to even wider dispute of the sovereignty over Crimea. The issue of basing rights dominated the negotiations in 1993–1997.
During the first two years after Soviet dissolution, the issue was discussed concurrently with Ukrainian nuclear arsenal issue, with the two negotiations affecting each other, although later it was decided that the consensus would never be achieved if one issue continued to influence the other one.
The discussions over the ownership of Black Sea Fleet created tensions not only between Russia and Ukraine, but within these states themselves, particularly between executives, legislatures and strong interest groups, such as armed forces, which often voiced differing opinions.
Basis of claims
The arguments regarding the ownership of the Black Sea Fleet often revolved around different and competing interpretations of the laws and international treaties. Ukraine based its claim of ownership on territoriality. It alluded to the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet law passed on 10 September 1991, which nationalized former Soviet property and financial assets on Ukraine's territory, and another law passed in December 1991 which subordinated all military formations on Ukrainian territory to Ukraine. The Ukrinform issued a statement in April 1992, saying "Ukraine's position at the negotiations... on the issue of the Black Sea Fleet will be built on the right of every state to inherit the property located on its territory".
The military structures of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), backed by Russian government, voiced their own claim that the fleet was the property of CIS based on the Minsk agreement. They alluded to the fleet's claimed classification as "strategic force", arguing that the fleet was part of "strategic forces" due to half of its ships being capable of carrying strategic nuclear weapons. They said that because of this the fleet should be placed under the joint CIS command according to the Minsk agreement. The claim was also supported by Black Sea Fleet commander Vladimir Kasatonov, who also argued against any possible division of fleet between the countries, saying "dismembering the fleet would be like dismembering living flesh". However, President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk argued against these claims and said that they were based on too broad interpretation of the word "strategic". Kravchuk asserted that after removing strategic nuclear weapons from the fleet's nuclear-capable ships, these ships and the fleet as a whole could not be considered as strategic anymore and that the territoriality would require the fleet's transfer to Ukraine. Ukraine voiced an immediate claim on all of "non-strategic" ships and also on the rest after removing and destroying "strategic" nuclear weapons from them.
Kasatonov further argued against Ukrainian ownership by telling the Ukrainian officials: "You cannot privatize the armed forces and history". He claimed that the fleet as a whole had a "strategic" significance due its ability to project power in the Mediterranean Sea, as it was challenging the United States Sixth Fleet. Therefore, he argued for the fleet to be placed under CIS command per Minsk agreement. Thus, additionally to the fleet including nuclear-capable vessels, its strategic value was also ascribed to it projecting the power through the Mediterranean Sea, and challenging the United States Sixth Fleet and Turkish navy.
The view that the fleet was CIS property was initially shared by Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Defence Minister Pavel Grachev, and was also supported by Crimean president Yuri Meshkov in 1994, who said that the issue of Black Sea Fleet ownership should be resolved based on interests of all CIS states, along with the wishes of Crimean population and authorities. Commander of CIS Armed Forces Yevgeny Shaposhnikov claimed that the fleet should be divided not just between Russia and Ukraine, but between all CIS member states. The most active supporters of the CIS ownership were the CIS command and the Black Sea Fleet's officers. Feliks Gromov, first deputy commander of the fleet, argued that it should be under CIS command so it could maintain an ability to coordinate with the Baltic and Northern fleets. Ukraine opposed the CIS ownership by saying that the navy can not be interstate and that it needs to be answerable to a particular state, which it claimed would be Russia in case of CIS ownership.
Besides CIS ownership, Russia additionally also claimed its own ownership right over the Black Sea Fleet. Russia's claim was based on it being a successor to the USSR and its legal heir. Russian president Boris Yeltsin, while initially claiming that the entire fleet was Russian in early January 1992, stepped back from this position by mid-January and claimed CIS ownership. In April, while still reiterating his claim of CIS command over the Black Sea Fleet, Yeltsin also moved to establish Russia's own navy, army and air force, saying that the idea of unified CIS armed forces failed to materialize. After it was decided to divide the fleet between Ukraine and Russia and to place it under their temporary interstate joint command by August 1992, the line of argument supporting CIS ownership lost its relevance and Russia's main claim began to revolve around its own right to ownership over the fleet.
Both Russia and Ukraine often based their claims on the fleet on financial arguments. In April 1994, the Ukrainian ambassador to Moscow said that Ukraine could claim 16% of the whole Soviet navy, which was more than the Black Sea Fleet, based on its assumption of 16.4% of the USSR's debt. Anton Buteyko, the foreign affairs advisor to the Ukrainian President, said that Ukraine could claim 20 to 25 percent based on its supposed contribution to the building and maintaining the Soviet navy. Additionally, both sides used the claimed funding of the fleet during the dispute itself to justify their ownership claims over the BSF. As such, Boris Yeltsin's decree on claiming the ownership over the fleet in April 1992 asserted as one of the reasons for the fleet being Russian the fact that "the activities of the BSF are financed out of the Russian Federation budget".
At the same time, both sides made statements connecting the Black Sea Fleet to their national identities, invoking historical traditions. Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk linked the Black Sea Fleet to the Cossack exploration of the Black Sea while speaking on Zaporozhian Cossacks and their fleet's activities in the Black Sea. On the other hand, Russian officer Vladimir Chernavin said that the Black Sea Fleet "has always been Russian, as we know from history", while Kasatanov linked its creation to the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.