• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Will Moscow Share Keys To Russian Black Sea Fleet Arsenals with Kyiv?

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Russia maintains its largest foreign stationed military group, the Black
Sea Fleet, on the territory of Ukraine. The minimum twenty year term of
basing the Russian Black Sea Fleet (RBSF) in the Crimea is too long a period
to be able today to forecast all its consequences. However, it is worth
identifying precisely now, with due account of the parliamentary debates
on the Black Sea package, the fundamental details of both the future of
Russian bases and the military prospects of the Black Sea region. Chief
of the arms control and military and technical cooperation department in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleksiy RYBAK has agreed to discuss
this with the our correspondent.

"Mr. Rybak, until recently our General Staff favored an international
agreement with the Russian Federation which would enable Ukraine to monitor,
if necessary, the weapons kept on its territory at RBSF arsenals. But now
this issue is no longer being raised, and I have heard from rather high
uniformed officials that the initiatives of our military were met without
enthusiasm in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the discussion of such
questions may be not so timely and appropriate - first, because we awaited
ratification of the general political treaty between Ukraine and Russia
and then the basic Black Sea package. So is Kyiv now really capable of
monitoring Russian conventional arsenals in the Crimea, and what is the
Ministry's position on this?"

"If I understood it properly, the question is about armored combat vehicles
and aircraft as part of RBSF units on the territory of Ukraine subject
to reduction under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (TCAFE).
In particular, the RBSF marines may be equipped with 132 armored combat
vehicles and 24 artillery systems of over 100 millimeters, while the air
arm may have 22 land-based warplanes. Each year TCAFE member-states exchange
information on the aggregate number of their conventional arms and the
places of their location and basing. Ukraine also makes use of this information
exchange, including that about Russian armaments in the Crimea. In addition,
TCAFE also provides for inspections to verify data supplied by the signatories.
So the number and condition of RBSF armaments may be checked during the
inspections, including the so-called "area inspections by request." In
addition, a dialogue continues under the auspices of the Subcommission
on the RBSF about specifying the procedure for inspecting the locations
of RBSF military facilities in both bi- and multilateral aspects."

"But, as far as I know, because of certain subtleties of this treaty
signed when the Warsaw Pact still existed, it is quite a problem for Ukraine
to organize inspection of the Russian military facilities. Only Western
inspectors make use of this right..."

"Since the inspecting group of a state is to be accompanied by Ukrainian
representatives, the latter also have direct access to RBSF arms during
inspections. By the way, a German inspection group recently inspected the
264th detached regiment of the RBSF marines. That group was accompanied
by representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. As of today, the
results of that inspection are being evaluated at the Ministry of Defense
Verification Department.

So TCAFE verification mechanisms allow Ukraine and other signatories
to the treaty to monitor the number and condition of RBSF weapons on the
one hand and to oblige Russia to supply reliable information and receive
inspectors to verify it on the other. Having analyzed this information,
I can assure you that RBSF combat facilities are much smaller than Russia
could have under the Black Sea accords."

"But the participants of the German inspection you have mentioned
seem to have found a larger number of armored vehicles in the Russian marine
units than they had expected, even although the extra vehicles bore red
crosses. Can this be regarded as violation of the arms control agreements?"

"RBSF combat armored vehicles are part of the naval forces with respect
to which Russia inherited some of the former Soviet Union's still applicable
legal commitments under TCAFE about a certain upper limit on them. The
procedures the treaty provides for do not restrict the number of medical
armored vehicles.

"Besides, there are additional limitations imposed by bilateral Ukrainian-Russian
Black Sea Fleet agreements. Under these, the Russian side committed itself
not to exceed a certain number of conventional armaments in the Black Sea
Fleet, personnel strength, and number of warships and auxiliary vessels
above the limits stipulated by the agreement on the principles of Black
Sea Fleet division. This means the territory of Ukraine cannot have more
RBSF armaments than stipulated by Black Sea Fleet accords, no matter whether
they bear red crosses."

 

Rubric: