If the Russian Black Sea fleet was shipping weapons to Syria or taking part in military conflicts anywhere in the world using warships stationed on Ukrainian land, Ukraine would know nothing about it because the agreement that regulates conditions for Russia's fleet in Sevastopol has no requirements to inform Ukraine.
The
issue has come into the public spotlight because of a recent report
by the U.S. research organization C4ADS quoted in the Sept.
8 issue of the Washington Post, saying that Russian ships were
involved in transporting weapons from Ukrainian ports to Syria
between Jan. 2012 and Jul. 2013. The Ukrainian foreign ministry
denied the allegation in its statement on Sept. 10.
Moreover,
one ship from the Russian Black Sea Fleet was involved in the
Gerogian military conflict in Aug. 2008 that led to the country’s
split. Recently, a senior Kremlin official said Russia could consider
the same type of intervention in Ukraine should it sign an
Association Agreement with the European Union this November.
“We
don’t want to use any kind of blackmail. This is a question for the
Ukrainian people,” Sergei Glazyev, President Vladimir Putin’s
adviser was quoted by The
Guardian as saying. “But legally, signing this agreement about
association with EU, the Ukrainian government violates the treaty on
strategic partnership and friendship with Russia.” When this
happened, Russia could no longer guarantee Ukraine’s status as a
state and could possibly intervene if pro-Russian regions of the
country appealed directly to Moscow, the newspaper quoted Glazyev as
saying on Sept. 21.
Moreover,
experts say that in theory Ukraine, as a base for Russian warships,
can find itself in the status of the third side of a military
conflict. Olexiy Melnyk, co-director for foreign relations and
international security program of the Razumkov Centre think tank,
says that “according to the international law, if a country lends
its territory to one of side of the conflict, this country is not
neutral anymore. So this country is part of conflict.”
There are 46 military vessels in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, including two submarines. They are set to stay in Ukraine at least until 2042, according to a 2010 bilateral agreement.
It
seems that there is little Ukraine can do to ensure that none of
these scenarios happen in the meantime.
The
particulars of the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationing in Ukraine are
regulated by an agreement between Ukraine and Russia signed in 1997. According to them, Russia has no obligation to provide
Ukraine with information about the movement of its warships.
Ukraine’s
ministry for foreign affairs told the Kyiv Post in a statement that
“none of the agreements between Ukraine and Russia forces Russia to
inform Ukraine about the reasons of leaving bases by warships and
support ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the final destination of
their course.”
The
ministry of defense says, in its own response to a written inquiry,
that according to President Viktor Yushchenko’s decree dating back to
2008, Russia has to inform Ukraine when their ships are leaving the
Black Sea Fleet base in Sevatopol at least 72 hours beforehand.
But
that decree covers no other details. So, when the Moskva missile
cruiser, which is typically based in Sevastopol, arrived to the
Mediterranean Sea on Sept. 20 to lead the naval task force there,
Ukraine knew no details of either its destination, nor the
three-month voyage around the Atlantic ocean that happened ahead of
this trip.
By
Sept. 20, Moskva was leading a task force of 10 ships, according to
RIA Novosti, a Russian news agency.
The
same agency also wrote
that initially Russian defense
officials did not tie the presence of this and other ships to the
ongoing civil war in Syria and a potential air strike, but on Sept. 5
a Kremlin official said “given
the presence there of amphibious landing ships, they are intended for
a possible evacuation of Russian citizens.”
Russians
are proud of the Moskva, dubbed a “carrier-killer” by NATO. It
has been stationed on Ukraine’s territory for the last 15 years,
though, as the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
This
is the same ship that in August 2008 left Sevastopol to take part in
the brief but devastating military conflict in Georgia, which
resulted in the annexing of South Ossetia, which had previously been
a part of the Georgian territory. Russian troops and ships were in
the middle of this conflict.
Yushchenko’s
decree regulating the procedure for informing Ukrainian authorities
about the moves of military ships stationed on its territory came as
a result of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s involvement in Gerogia’s
military conflict.
Yuschenko
then had said that he would not allow the Moskva missile cruiser back
on Ukraine’s territory, but he had no legal reason to forbid the
Russian warship to return to its home base.
The
same presidential decree, issued on Aug. 13, 2008 enables Ukraine to check Russian
warships from the Black Sea Fleet to make sure that their cargo
matches the shipping documents.
On
Sept. 12, Ukrainian customs officials did just that, holding Russian
destroyer Smetlivy at the check point for three hours. The Ukrainian
customs officials checked both the crew and the shipping papers,
according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
The
ship was able to depart on the same day, and is now based in the
Mediterranean Sea with the Moskva missile cruiser, according to RIA
Novosti.
