RUSSIAN TROOPS IN UKRAINE AND THE BALTIC STATES: PECULIARITIES OF THEIR WITHDRAWAL

Abstract

The article examines the issue of finding compromises with the Russian side regarding the withdrawal or reformation of its troops from the territory of the sovereign states of the Baltic States and Ukraine as a result of their declaration of independence. If the Baltic countries were able to find such difficult compromises during the two or three years (from 1991 to 1994) of their restored independence and convince the Russian side to leave the Soviet troops from their sovereign territories, which were still left in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, then in Ukraine this process acquired some another form. The Ukrainian leadership decided to form its own army on its territory based on the former Soviet troops, and not to insist on their withdrawal to Russia and other post-Soviet republics. Therefore, on the first day of the declaration of independence, the leadership of Ukraine made a decision that all troops on its territory are subordinate to the parliament – the Verkhovna Rada. However, taking the oath of allegiance to the people of Ukraine was somewhat delayed in time and actively began after the national referendum and the election of the first president of the state. If there were no problems with taking such an oath in the land and air forces, then they appeared in the Black Sea Fleet due to the position of its high command. The latter refused to take an oath of allegiance to Ukraine and swore to Russia, handing over control of the entire fleet to it. Since the situation regarding the future fleet on Ukrainian soil has moved to the level of interstate confrontation, both sides tried to solve this issue in their favor by political pressure on each other, and then moved to the path of finding a compromise on this problem. During five years of efforts, within the framework of bilateral (inter-presidential) and multilateral meetings, negotiations were held to resolve the issue of the division of the Black Sea Fleet in the Ukrainian Crimea. Eventually, a compromise was found and finalized in an agreement between the two states in May 1997. According to this agreement, only one-fifth of all vessels of this fleet in an unsatisfactory condition were actually transferred to Ukraine, and the rest were assigned to the Russian side in a legally joint base in the city of Sevastopol. The latter, together with all bases, was leased by Ukraine to the Russian side for a period of 20 years with automatic extension, in the event that one of the parties does not terminate such an agreement. That is, the result of the diplomatic efforts of the Ukrainian side in the first years of independence, regarding the preservation of the Black Sea Fleet in its Crimea, were disappointing. The Russian side received the absolute majority of the high-quality Black Sea Fleet of the Soviet Union with the required number of sailors and officers, which was based in the Ukrainian Crimea, which it will annex in the future.