"If We Can’t Use Our Fleet at a Time of Crisis, What’s the Point of
Keeping It There?"

ArmRadio.am
12.08.2006 14:12

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee and the head of
the State Duma Working Group on Legislative Support for the Operation,
Financial Welfare and Social Guarantees of Military Servicemen,
Civilian Personnel and Their Dependents, Mikhail Babich, speaks in an
interview with Gazeta correspondent Madina Shavlokhova about how the
legislative branch plans to solve the problems facing the military.

Q: How many military bases does Russia have in the near abroad now?

A: There are three to four bases in Central Asia. There are bases in
Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed
in Sevastopol.

Q: Has the status of our bases outside the country been determined?

A: Yes. There are international agreements ratified by the parliaments
of all countries where we have our military contingents. Everything is
all right with their legal status. But there are some problems in
details.

Q: Where do we have most of all problems?

A: In Ukraine. But politics have nothing to do with this. There are
other reasons that come to the fore. For example, the size of the
lease payment for the use of the Black Sea Fleet’s base.

Q: Wasn’t the size of the lease payment determined in the middle of
the 1990s when the agreement on the division of the Black Sea Fleet
between Russia and Ukraine was signed?

A: It was. We divided the Fleet in accordance with the previously
agreed-upon terms. The size of the lease payment was determined in
1997. But today our Ukrainian colleagues say the economic situation
has changed and the lease payment should be much higher. This is wrong
because Russia, as a legal successor to the Soviet Union, assumed many
obligations and honors them. Our position is clear: increasing the
lease payment for the Black Sea Fleet’s base is out of the
question. One must not forget whose financial resources have been
invested in the development of this base and who paid Ukraine’s debts
to the European Union for the use of the Black Sea.

Q: Is this where our disagreements with Ukraine end?

A: I wish it were so! There are many disagreements over social
guarantees to military servicemen, the privatization of their housing,
and dual citizenship of our military. The State Duma Defense
Committee, jointly with the Defense Ministry of Russia, has prepared
two bills: "On Social Guarantees for Military Servicemen Undergoing
Military Service in Military Units of the Russian Federation Stationed
in the Territories of the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and
Kyrgyzstan, and Civilian Personnel of These Units" and "On the Terms
of Mandatory Pension, Social, and Health Insurance of Civilian
Personnel, Members of Military Families within Military Units of the
Russian Federation Deployed in the Territories of CIS Member States."
The first bill has gone through all stages approval in the government
and will be submitted to the State Duma this fall. The draft budget
for 2007 already envisages funds for its implementation. The second
bill has not yet been discussed with ministries.

Q: Several years ago our ships stationed in the Sevastopol Bay were
not let out to take part in military exercises. Has anything changed?

A: We no longer have such acute situations. But then, the Fleet is
different and Russia’s policy is tougher. I can hardly imagine any
forces trying to prevent our Fleet from carrying out its missions. And
yet from time to time there emerge different frictions over the use of
military infrastructure, airspace or training ranges.

Q: Can the Russian Fleet be used for psychological pressure in an
international conflict, for example in the Georgian-Abkhazian
conflict?

A: This is one of the disputable issues. For example, there is an
emergency situation where the Fleet has to be used for its direct
purpose. Our Ukrainian colleagues think that if Ukraine assumes a
neutral position in such a conflict, Russia may not use its Black Sea
Fleet. And if Russia does otherwise, Ukraine will press for an early
withdrawal of the Russian Fleet from its territory. A fleet or any
military unit is deployed in a certain place in order to be used in
the interests of the state wherever necessary. There are relevant
international practices. If we cannot use our fleet at a time of
crisis, what’s the point of keeping it there."

Official Kremlin Int’l News Broadcast
August 10, 2006 Thursday