The Disgrace Of The Black Sea Fleet

The Crimea has become a real graveyard of foreign ships.

In July 2007, on the air of the Russian service of Radio Liberty, we discussed with the former commander of the Ukrainian Navy Volodymyr Beskorovaynyi the fate of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which had only ten years left in the Ukrainian Crimea. The reason for the conversation was a statement by the former commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, Admiral Igor Kasatonov, who noted that Russian sailors would remain in Sevastopol after 2017. This statement was also answered by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Volodymyr Ohryzko, who pointed out that, according to the current agreement, the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation must leave its temporary bases upon expiration of the agreement, and no new decisions on this matter were made by Moscow and Kyiv.

In a conversation with Volodymyr Beskorovaynyi, we came to the conclusion that there was simply no need to extend the Black Sea Fleet's stay in Sevastopol. “I won't be very wrong if I say that the Russian Black Sea Fleet is in Sevastopol, let's say, for beauty... so that they can say, “Here is a city of Russian glory, and there Russian sailors are walking the streets, here is the flag of the Russian Navy fluttering… Beautiful and pointless,” I told my interlocutor.

“Yes, pointless. If today we sound the alarm and tell the fleet: “Forward!”, it will be unclear where it will run. It will not pass through the Bosphorus — that is absolutely clear. And where to then? To fight with Georgia,” Volodymyr Beskorovaynyi answered me.

Life, it would seem, has laughed at us. In 2008, the Russian Black Sea Fleet actually fought against Georgia — Volodymyr Beskorovaynyi was right in defining the immediate goals of the Russian contingent’s presence in the Ukrainian city.

In 2010, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed an agreement with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to extend the Black Sea Fleet’s presence on Ukrainian territory, so Admiral Kasatonov’s prediction came true. “The Black Sea Fleet transformed from a lake fleet into a conventionally naval fleet only after another collapse of the empire that had overextended itself in the arms race. But the countries that can be conventionally frightened — Ukraine and Georgia — look like strange targets for the fleet,” I would write after these agreements.

And again, unfortunately, I was not mistaken. In 2014, the Russian Black Sea Fleet would play a major role in the occupation of Sevastopol and the subsequent occupation and annexation of the entire Crimean Peninsula. And, of course, after the actual liquidation of the Ukrainian Navy in Crimea by the occupiers, the renewal of the Russian Black Sea Fleet would begin. Those who expected to see the Black Sea Fleet in the inconvenient bay of Novorossiysk in 2017 were put to shame. The fleet was not going to go anywhere. It was being prepared for a big war.

And this war led to the real collapse of the Black Sea Fleet. A few days ago, 17 years after our conversation with Volodymyr Beskorovaynyi, the last ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation left Sevastopol — I would like to hope that it left for good. The fleet, which in Russian naval history, I am sure, has always been a symbol of shame and the failed ambitions of emperors and general secretaries, confirmed its amazing role and relocated to Novorossiysk.

And this fleet is a fleet of disgrace also because it is a fleet of terror. Its ships fire missiles at residential areas, killing civilians. But now they are forced to do this not from Sevastopol, no longer from Crimea. Crimea has turned into a real cemetery of foreign ships. And the Russian Black Sea Fleet, one might say, was the first to return to its home port – to the ports of Russia. I hope that sooner or later all the occupiers remaining on the Crimean Peninsula will follow it.

Vitaly Portnikov, Crimea.Realii

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