Kuchma and Yeltsin hold working meeting (10/27/96)

Kuchma and Yeltsin hold working meeting

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma and Russia's ailing leader Boris Yeltsin met on October 24 in Moscow in what was scheduled to be a "working meeting" with an open agenda. It turned into a high-level discussion on how to resolve the latest Sevastopol crisis and resulted in what appears to finally be agreement on a friendship treaty.

In recent weeks the Russian Parliament, the Duma, Moscow's influential Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and recently fired National Security Advisor Alexander Lebed have all declared that the Crimean city of Sevastopol, which is the home of the Black Sea Fleet and within the territorial confines of Ukraine, is part of Russia. It is an issue that has stirred controversy and distrust between Ukraine and Russia virtually since the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.

President Yeltsin's press spokesman, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, said that at the meeting at the Barvikha Sanitarium, where Mr. Yeltsin is hospitalized, the two leaders agreed that all the issues regarding a treaty of friendship between the two countries had been resolved and that "the big treaty between the two states is completely ready."

He stated that it would be signed after Mr. Yeltsin has recuperated from heart surgery, which is scheduled for November. He called the discussions constructive and cordial.

As for the Black Sea Fleet issue, which has impeded the signing of a friendship treaty because Russia has demanded that the city and the naval base located there become Russian territory, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin is scheduled to be in Kyiv in mid-November to sign the package of agreements that will finally resolve that issue, according to Interfax-Ukraine. Mr. Chernomyrdin originally had said he would visit at the end of October, but the delay of President Yeltsin's surgery and the latest crisis pushed back the date.

Russian Duma's move

How the latest declarations by the presidents of these two countries will play in the Russian Duma is the unknown factor. On October 23 the Duma voted on a declaration that "the splitting of the Black Sea Fleet must be halted." In its first reading, the draft declaration had proposed that the Sevastopol budget be line-itemed into Russia's.

The approval of the declaration brought a swift reply from Ukraine's President Kuchma, a day before he met with Mr. Yeltsin. He said the legislature's action was "an exacerbation of relations between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples," not merely a worsening of relations between the Duma and Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada.

Then he added in a sharply spoken statement, "If the sides display goodwill, there will be a solution; but if this is merely a flexing of muscles, or an attempt to settle the issue at the expense of the other side, then heads will fly," said Mr. Kuchma. He added that the agreement to split the Black Sea Fleet had already been agreed upon and that it would be on a lease basis. He said his meeting with Mr. Yeltsin would confirm the details.

Yeltsin's health casts doubts

However, the state of President Yeltsin's health could still cast doubt on how set in concrete the agreement becomes. If the operation he is to undergo leaves him unable to perform his duties, or if he should die, a can of worms opens up as to his successor. Waiting in the wings is Mr. Lebed, who on October 5 stated for the official newspaper of the Black Sea Fleet, Flag Rodiny (Flag of the Motherland), that "Sevastopol is a Russian city."

The statement was greeted by denunciations from Ukrainian leaders, as well as one from Mr. Chernomyrdin, who said that Mr. Lebed was not speaking for the Russian government. Eleven days later Mr. Lebed was relieved of his post as national security adviser.

Reaction to Lebed's dismissal

The spokesman for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yuriy Sergeyev, explained several days later that Mr. Lebed had been fired because he was not properly representing Russian foreign relations policies. "We understand that Mr. Lebed was dismissed because he was increasing tensions between Russian and neighboring countries. We understand that to include Ukraine."

Mr. Sergeyev had a few choice words also for Mr. Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, who has his eyes fixed on the presidential seat. "Mr. Luzhkov does not represent Russian government policy. He spoke only as a politician with ambitions," said Mr. Sergeyev. Everything that Luzhkov and others are doing is outright artificial provocation."

Mr. Luzhkov had declared on October 21 that he was ready to provide financial support for Sevastopol from Moscow's city budget so that it could move away from dependence on Kyiv.

Mr. Sergeyev said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was preparing documents that would make Mr. Luzhkov "persona non grata" in Ukraine.

The city of Sevastopol, whose residents are predominantly Russians, was handed over as part of Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, and although administratively financed from Moscow, it remained within the political structure of the Crimean Oblast, today the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraine.