Agreement on the status and conditions of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia in Ukraine

The “Agreement on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in Ukraine” was signed by Russia and Ukraine on May 28, 1997, along with agreements on the parameters for the division of the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR Navy ^[1] and related settlements ^[2] . According to documents between the two countries was divided the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR, its weapons and bases ^{[3] [4]} .

Agreement on the status and conditions of stay of the Black Sea Fleet
Agreement between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the status and conditions of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine
Type of contract	bilateral agreement
date of signing	May 28, 1997
Entry into force	July 12, 1999
Signed	Boris Yeltsin Leonid Kuchma
Parties	Russia Ukraine
Languages	Russian Ukrainian

According to the agreements, Russia, on the right of a 20-year lease, transferred: the main bay of the city - Sevastopol with moorings for more than 30 warships, Quarantine Bay with a crew of missile boats of the Black Sea Fleet and a diving range, Cossack Bay , where the Marine Corps was stationed, South bay . The ships of the Russian and Ukrainian fleets were jointly based in Streletskaya Bay . Russia also leased the main arsenal of ammunition, the Black Sea Fleet missile base, a landing range and two airfields: Guards near Simferopol and Sevastopol (Kacha). Ukraine agreed to the use by the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, outside Sevastopol, of Russian naval facilities: the 31st Test Center in Feodosia , HF communications points in Yalta and Sudak, and the Crimean military sanatorium. According to the agreements, Russia could have in Ukraine no more than 25 thousand personnel, 24 artillery systems of more than 100 mm caliber, 132 armored vehicles, 22 land-based naval aircraft, and the number of Russian ships and vessels should not exceed 388 units. At leased airfields in Guards and Sevastopol (Kache), 161 aircraft could be placed ^[5] . The Russian side pledged not to have nuclear weapons in the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine ^[6] .

In 2010, the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine signed the Kharkov Agreements , which confirmed the status of the 1997 fleet agreements and extended them immediately for 25 years until 2042. The Federation Council of Russia ratified them on April 28 ^[7] . The day before, on April 27, the Kharkiv agreements were ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ^[8] , however, during a meeting between supporters and opponents of ratification, a brawl ensued ^[9] . Protests against ratification were also held in the center of Kiev, resulting in riots ^[10] .

On March 28, 2014, after the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation , Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced to the State Duma a bill to terminate a number of Russian-Ukrainian agreements, including an agreement on the division of the Black Sea Fleet and the Kharkov Agreements ^[11] . The State Duma approved the denunciation of Russian-Ukrainian agreements by 433 votes of the members of parliament on March 31, 2014 ^[12] . In 2018, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko introduced into the Verkhovna Rada a draft constitutional amendment that would remove from the transitional provisions of the main law a clause on the deployment of foreign military bases (i.e., the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy) existing on the territory of Ukraine ^{[13] [14 ] [14 ] ]} . On February 7, 2019, the document was adopted ^[15] and entered into force on February 21 ^[16] .