The deal by which Ukraine granted Russia a 25-year extension of the lease for the Sevastopol base of the Black Sea Fleet stands right up there with the Pereyaslav Treaty of 1654 in terms of historic betrayals of the Ukrainian nation. This deal was signed in Kharkiv on April 21 and ratified by 236 votes in Ukraine’s parliament six days later by that same unconstitutional coalition which created the unconstitutional government in the first place. The government once again played loose with the Constitution claiming that since this deals only calls for an extension of the lease, it does not need the 300 votes necessary for a constitutional amendment to allow foreign troops on Ukrainian soil.
Ukraine gets very little in return for surrendering its. It get a $100 discount on the price of gas if the price is higher than $330 per 1,000 cubic meters, or a 30-percent discount if the price is lower than $330. Yet the current trends indicate increase in supplies and falling demand – all of which benefits consuming countries. European states are negotiating new prices with Russia and are not giving away political concessions.
Russia, on the other hand, gets huge economic benefits from this accord –it no longer needs to build new facilities for its Black Sea Fleet, since it is now guaranteed the use of the Sevastopol port until 2042 (the old lease agreement wasn’t scheduled to run out until 2017) — at rock bottom prices.
In addition, this agreement places Ukraine firmly within Russia’s orbit and effectively preventing the country from being able to conduct an independent foreign policy.
Since the current lease deal allows for a five-year extension, why wasn’t this the first approach taken by Yanukovych had he decided to use the fleet deal as an option? Many observers believe that Russian President Dmitri Medvedev simply handed Yanukovych a prepared draft agreement and Yanukovych signed on without questioning it.
But the fleet deal should never have entered the gas deal negotiations. While Ukraine pays exorbitant amounts for Russia’s gas it allows Russia’s gas to pass through its pipeline to Europe at far less than market rates. Gas prices should always have been linked with fair market transport prices and the Tymoshenko government is as much to blame for its failure to do so as is the Yanukovych regime. And since Russia plans to build its Nord Stream pipeline bypassing Ukraine, Ukraine may lose that lever in the future as well. The best way to resolve the gas issue was for Ukraine to join a European consortium to modernize and manage the pipelines. This is now dead in the water.
Trying to explain this sell-out of gargantuan proportions, Nikolai Azarov the only government leader in the world who can’t speak the language of the country he is supposed to govern, came out with this incredible statement:
“We cannot come out of this without great losses. Everything depends on the good will of Russia: If they want to come to an agreement with us, to listen to our arguments, then we will be able to review the contract. If they don’t, we will be like serfs.”
Pozhalusta, Nikolai. But it is precisely by signing and ratifying this agreement you turned yourself and your nation into serfs.
Marco Levytsky is the editor and publisher of Ukrainian News, a bi-weekly newspaper distributed across Canada.
