Russian fleet pays next to nothing for base in Crimea - Ukrainian TV

[Presenter] Also, [Prime Minister] Yuliya Tymoshenko confirmed in Moscow [on 28 June during a news conference with her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin] that the Black Sea Fleet will be removed from Ukraine in line with agreements by 2017. Vladimir Putin said he was pleased that talks on the issue were conducted in a civilized manner. However, he is convinced Ukraine itself is interested in the stationing of the Russian fleet on its territory.

Nonetheless, the Russian navy will be asked to leave the city [Sevastopol] in nine years.

By the way, the fleet in Sevastopol once comprised 837 ships and nearly 80,000 servicemen, including ancillary staff. Half of the revenues of its companies went to the city's coffers. Now the Russians are not paying a kopeck for the stationing - they are just writing off Ukraine's old debts for gas and oil. Sevastopol gets 100m [presumably hryvnyas, 19m dollars] compensation from the Ukrainian budget for the land which could bring profits to the city but is being used by the navy. Russia also annually allocates nearly 450m roubles [19m dollars] to build housing for servicemen. Moreover, the Russian fleet funds kindergartens and schools. Nearly 25,000 Sevastopol residents work for its companies. Our correspondent Oleh Hulyk has gone to the city of navy officers [Sevastopol] to find out what sense there is for Ukraine and particularly Sevastopol in the stationing of the Russian fleet on its territory. Here is a special report.

[Correspondent] Sea sickness is what Ukrainian politicians feel every time they remember that the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation is stationed in Crimea. However, politics makes it impossible to see what hides behind these foreign corvettes, frigates and cruisers.

Volodymyr Bezkorovaynyy, a former commander of the Ukrainian naval forces, says the fleet deal was disadvantageous from the very start. Ukraine gave its fleet away for gas debts.

[Bezkorovaynyy] When you take gas payments, which are in the addenda, and see how much we had to give back to Russia and how much we gave away, you will see that 102 ships - battleships - and about 200 auxiliary ships were given away for the price of one cruiser.

[Correspondent] The entire fleet was evaluated at 1.6bn dollars instead of the 80bn that Ukraine was humbly suggesting. We are still paying back those two billion dollars. Russia is not paying for the lease of land and infrastructure but is writing off our old debt - 98m dollars every year. This is nothing, taking into account the fact that, under the agreement, the fleet was given more than 18,000 hectares of Sevastopol's precious land and more than 4,500 infrastructure facilities, whose lease was estimated at 50 cents for one square metre. However, even this ridiculous land price has grown over the past decade in a not funny way. The gas price has more than doubled for Ukraine, whereas Russia does not pay for the land whose price has increased 100 times.

[Passage omitted: details; a real estate manager, a kindergarten teacher, a Sevastopol official and a Russian fleet opponent speak on the subject.]

Source: ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1545 gmt 28 Jun 08

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