Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KIEV1912
2006-05-17 15:39:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kyiv
Cable title:  

UKRAINE/RUSSIA: NO PROGRESS ON BLACK SEA FLEET

Tags:  PREL MARR PINR RS UP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8192
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHKV #1912/01 1371539
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 171539Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY KIEV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9358
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIEV 001912 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2016
TAGS: PREL MARR PINR RS UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE/RUSSIA: NO PROGRESS ON BLACK SEA FLEET
NEGOTIATIONS

REF: 05 KIEV 4539

Classified By: Political Counselor Aubrey Carlson for reasons 1.4(b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIEV 001912

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2016
TAGS: PREL MARR PINR RS UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE/RUSSIA: NO PROGRESS ON BLACK SEA FLEET
NEGOTIATIONS

REF: 05 KIEV 4539

Classified By: Political Counselor Aubrey Carlson for reasons 1.4(b,d)


1. (C) Summary: First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr
Ohryzko told Kiev-based diplomats May 12 that the May 4
second meeting of the Ukraine-Russia sub-commission on the
Russian Black Sea Fleet made no progress. The Ukrainians
have asked to conduct a joint inventory of real property
occupied and used by the Russian Black Sea Fleet, but the
Russians are stonewalling. Once the inventory is completed,
the Ukrainian government can begin to assess its value and
propose a rental charge based on market prices. Ohryzko said
the next sub-commission session would take place in July or
August in Sevastopol and the Ukrainian side would present
"practical" proposals that would force the Russians to begin
respecting requirements of Ukrainian law. Dismissing Russian
talk of creating an alternative base for the Russian Black
Sea Fleet on Russian territory, Ohryzko nonetheless said the
Ukrainian government would notify Russia of its intent to
terminate the basing arrangement in 2017 and propose
discussions to allow for the orderly withdrawal of the
Russian Black Sea Fleet from the Crimean peninsula. Russian
President Putin would not visit Kiev until the next Ukrainian
prime minister and speaker of parliament have been installed.
End summary.

General Principles
--------------


2. (C) Deputy Foreign Minister Ohryzko invited EU, Japanese,
Canadian, and U.S. embassy representatives May 12 for an
update on Ukrainian-Russian May 4 discussions in Moscow on
the basing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet (BSF). The
"sub-commission on the functioning of the Russian Black Sea
Fleet on the territory of Ukraine" (BSF sub-commission) had
met for only the second time, after the initial February 14,
2006 meeting in Kiev. Before providing his briefing, Ohryzko
said he wanted to make some basic points. First of all,
Article 17 of the Ukrainian Constitution prohibited the
stationing of military bases on Ukrainian soil, although
Paragraph 14 of the transitional arrangements provided for

the temporary basing of foreign military forces under the
provisions of international agreements ratified by parliament
(Rada). The Rada, in May 1997, had ratified three basic
agreements allowing the stationing of the Russian Black Sea
Fleet in Ukraine, but the agreements only allowed facilities
to be rented to the BSF until May 2017. Furthermore, the
basic agreements required the Russians to use Ukrainian
property only in compliance with Ukrainian law and limited
their use of real property to the ones specified in the
agreements.

Infrequent and Unproductive Meetings
--------------


3. (C) Ohryzko noted the BSF sub-commission, established
under the rubric of the Yushchenko-Putin inter-state
commission, had working groups to work on five specific
issues related to the stationing of the Russian Black Sea
Fleet:

-- The inventory of plots of land and state property used by
the Russian Black Sea Fleet;
-- Naval security;
-- Ecological security and environmental protection;
-- Legal functioning of BSF units; and
-- Other international and political issues.


4. (C) Ohryzko said he headed the Ukrainian delegation to the
BSF sub-commission, while his counterpart was Russian Deputy
Foreign Minister Karasin. Only the working group on the
inventory of real estate and property used by the BSF was
actively meeting. During the initial February 14 meeting,
the Ukrainian side had presented its proposal for conducting
the inventory, but now, Ohryzko noted, the Russian side was
dragging its feet, repeatedly raising the same questions on
the purpose and conduct of the inventory. Since the February
14 first meeting, the Ukrainian side had sent seven official
notes to the Russians with various proposals but not received
any reply.


5. (U) Note: In November 2005, the media reported the
Ukrainian members of the bilateral commission would be
President Yushchenko; Prime Minister Yekhanurov; the Foreign,
Defense, and Education Ministers; National Security and
Defense Council Secretary Kinakh; and Ohryzko. Yekhanurov
would chair the sub-commission on economic cooperation;
Defense Minister Hrytsenko, the sub-commission on security;

KIEV 00001912 002 OF 003


and Foreign Minister Tarasyuk, the sub-commission on
international cooperation. With Ohryzko on BSF
sub-commission would be First Deputy Defense Minister
Polyakov, the Deputy Head of the State Committee for
Construction and Architecture, the Sevastopol prosecutor, the
Naval Forces commander, the deputy head of the State Property
Fund, and representatives of the Sevastopol city
administration, the Border Service, the Customs Service, the
Finance Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Environment
Ministry, the state-run river mapping organization, the
Foreign Ministry, and the Security Service of Ukraine.

Numerous Violations
--------------


6. (C) Ohryzko said, once a joint inventory was conducted,
the Ukrainian side hoped to renegotiate the Russian BSF rent,
which, currently at $97 million per year, was far out of line
with market pricing. The Ukrainians had proposed that a
joint inventory be conducted of all establishments and plots
of land used by the Russian Black Sea Fleet to determine
their current condition. The Ukrainian government calculated
that the Russian Black Sea Fleet was using 25 plots of land
and more than 185 buildings, occupying more than 150 hectares
of Ukrainian soil, without proper authorization because they
were not listed in the BSF agreement annex. The Russian
Black Sea Fleet was also conducting unauthorized activity,
such as subleasing properties to be operated as restaurants,
from some of the properties.


7. (C) Ohryzko charged that the Russians were also operating
more than 35 navigational aids (note: such as lighthouses,
buoys, channel markers, etc.) in violation of Ukrainian law,
which stated such navigational aids were Ukrainian property.
The lack of Ukrainian control over the navigational aids
meant that Ukraine was unable to meet its international
obligations to ensure safety of maritime traffic in its
territorial waters. Other Russian Black Sea Fleet violations
included the excessive use of Russian national symbols and
the operation of a prosecutor's office and military courts on
Ukrainian territory.

The Way Forward
--------------


8. (C) Ohryzko said the sub-commission was next due to meet
in July or August in Sevastopol. The Ukrainian government
would work out a number of proposals to simplify the
inventory procedure for the Russians. Ohryzko also said the
Ukrainians would present a number of practical steps "to
demonstrate that Ukraine will not allow violations of
Ukrainian law," but he refused to specify the nature of the
steps when asked.


9. (C) Responding to a Swedish diplomat's question, Ohryzko
said he and his colleagues had noted Russian media reports
that Moscow was preparing alternative Black Sea Fleet
facilities in Novorossiysk. Ohryzko discounted these
reports, saying that such reports alternated with Russian
military officials' statements regarding their intent to stay
on in Sevastopol after 2017. Later in the meeting, Ohryzko
said the Ukrainian government intended to present an official
notification in 2007 to the Russian side of its intent to
terminate Russian Black Sea Fleet basing arrangements and
propose the initiation of discussions on the Russian Black
Sea Fleet's departure. The Ukrainian government understood
that the Russian Black Sea Fleet's transfer would not be an
overnight process, but would require several years and should
be carried out in an orderly process.

No Putin Visit Soon
--------------


10. (C) Responding to a question, Ohryzko said the Ukrainian
government had invited Russian President Putin to Kiev a
number of times. For the moment, Moscow was taking the
position that a Putin visit could not take place until a new
Ukrainian prime minister and parliamentary speaker had been
designated and were in place. Ohryzko said he hoped that
during a Putin visit all aspects of the Ukraine-Russia
bilateral relationship would be discussed, including the
stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Comment
--------------


11. (C) While Ohryzko provided little information not already
in media reports, his candid comments underscored Ukrainian
frustration over the lack of progress in negotiations between

KIEV 00001912 003 OF 003


Ukraine and Russia not just on the Russian Black Sea fleet
but on a range of issues between the two countries. (Reftel
relays MFA 1st Territorial Department Adomaitis' earlier
frustration over Russian intransigence on the Russian Black
Sea Fleet.)


12. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Herbst