Citat:
In 1997, amid the wreckage of the USSR, Russia & Ukraine signed a Partition Treaty determining the fate of the military bases and vessels in Crimea. The deal sparked widespread officer ‘defections’ to Russia and was ratified by the Russian & Ukrainian parliaments in 1999. Russia received 81.7 percent of the fleet’s ships after paying the Ukrainian government US$526.5 million.
Moscow annually wrote off $97.75 million of Kiev’s debt for the right to use Ukrainian waters and radio frequencies, and to compensate for the Black Sea Fleet’s environmental impact.
The Russian navy was allowed up to
- 25,000 troops,
- 24 artillery systems with a caliber smaller than 100 mm,
- 132 armored vehicles, and
- 22 military planes, on Crimean territory.
Authorities in the Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea requested Moscow’s assistance after the self-proclaimed government in Kiev introduced a law abolishing the use of languages other than Ukrainian in official circumstances.
