Ukraine: Russia shows ‘complete disregard’ for Black Sea Fleet agreement in Crimea

Signed in 1997, the
agreement was last amended in 2010, when ousted President Viktor Yanukovych extended the Russian
fleet’s lease in Crimea to at least 2042, in exchange for a modest 10 percent discount on Russian gas imports.

Under the agreement,
Russia can have up to 25,000 troops and personnel in Crimea, but
there are plenty of conditions attached. In particular, only 1,987 members of the Russian military contingent can be marines and ground troops, according to Yevhen
Perebyinis, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman.

On March 3, during
the United Nations Security Council session, Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia also tweeted
that Russian troops need to request permission from the Ukrainian
authorities 10 days in advance to be able to leave their bases.

 “True, Russia can have up to 25,000 troops in Crimea, according to
Black Sea Fleet agreements, but only on military bases and not around
and armed with AKs,” the minister tweeted.

The National
Security and Defense Council on March 3 also released a list of articles of the
agreement violated by the Russian army.

Here are some of the
violations:

1.According to the agreement, the total number of personnel,
ships, vessels, arms and military equipment of the Russian Black Sea
Fleet Fleet cannot be increased without prior agreement with Ukraine.
However, the number of contingent grew from from 3,000 to 16,000 in
the past week.

2.Russian
military units are operating outside of their bases. They are
blocking a number of government and infrastructural objects,
including several military units of Ukraine’s army. Attempts to
disarm the Ukrainian servicemen have also been recorded.

3. Since Aug. 13, 2008, according to the National
Security and Defense Council decision, Russians are
obliged to notify Ukraine
within 72 hours about
any military units that are sent to the dispositions
of the Black Sea Fleet and are crossing
the state border, as well as to
provide full
information on the number and type of military weapons to be carried.
On Feb. 28 eight
Russian military helicopters, four
Ilyushin Il-76 airplanes
with paratroopers, and hovercraft “Zubr”
were transported illegally from Russia to Ukraine.

“This
indicates a complete disregard for these requirements by
the Russian side. Russian
policy towards Ukraine destroys the bilateral legal framework and
the
overall system of international law, which
protection is
a
common cause for
international lawyers around the world,”
the National
Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said in its statement.