Romania again shows interest in the Ukrainian territory. Like in the case with Serpent Island, the matter is allegedly about the wrong demarcation of the state border between the two states. However, it is rumored that business has also something to do with it: the matter is about the navigable part of the Danube which belongs to Ukraine. Romania would like to have the waterway for ships in its possession.
Romania’s territorial claims refer to the small (1,500 by 800 meters) uninhabited island of Maikan located on the Danube between the cities of Kilia and Vylkove. Strange as it may seem, the reason for the border row is the Danube itself. According to the international laws, if the border between the countries lies along a river, it is defined by the fairway, unless the sides reach some other agreement. But the fairway that went between Romania’s big island of Babii and Ukraine’s Maikan Island has become shallow and silted up, so the ships are now going between Maikan and the Ukrainian bank. The fairway has changed but the border remains the same.
The Ukrainian mass media reported that the representative of Romania’s Foreign Ministry Liviu Dumitriu raised the question about the application of the principle of the main navigating fairway along the Danube River in the area of Maikan Island at a meeting about the demarcation of the state border line along rivers.
In his turn, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s representative stated that our country has no intention to change its border line with Romania along the Danube River. As was stated by Oleh Voloshyn, acting head of the Department for Information Policy at Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, in the situation with Maikan Island the Ukrainian side’s approach is based on the principles of the inviolability of frontiers confirmed by the Ukrainian-Romanian Agreement dated 2003. “Any one-sided change of the state border line in any of its parts is unacceptable for Ukraine,” he underlined. At the same time, Voloshyn noted that the sides will discuss all disputable questions on April 27.
“Any territorial concessions by Ukraine are out of question,” said Ukraine’s Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador, Prof. Volodymyr Vasylenko to The Day. He represented Ukraine at the UN International Court, which considered Romania’s claim concerning Serpent Island. In his words, “in regulating the argument the sides should apply the clauses of the agreement on the Ukrainian-Romanian border dated 2003.” At the same time, he underlined that a court trial is not on the agenda. “The changes in the river stream are neither cardinal, nor global to change the border,” Vasylenko stated.
COMMENTARY
Oleksandr SUSHKO, head of the Center for Peace, Conversion, and Foreign Policy of Ukraine:
“Problems arise from time to time with the borders that go along rivers. For river beds are a dynamic phenomenon, whereas the borders are a permanent one. This is quite a problematic topic in international relations. For example, the Russian-Chinese border goes along the Amur River, so they have permanent debates concerning the change of the stream. Every country, of course, is trying to use the river change for expanding of its area. Ukraine has lost dozens hectares of its territory to Belarus’ advantage in the area where the Dnipro changes its bed.
“In the case with Romania we have an agreement that reads that the border goes along the navigable fairway. Romanians have the opportunity to propose that the border be reconsidered, because for certain reasons the fairway along which the border goes has silted up. At the same time, the agreement includes the clauses on the inviolability of the borders. The agreement includes a delimitation map, where Maikan Island is marked as Ukrainian territory. Therefore, the Ukrainian side can fairly appeal to this clause of the agreement.
“In my opinion, to resolve the question on the physical plane, one should simply remove the reasons that have changed the river bed. For example, the island may be extended by dumping earth there, and then the river stream may return [to its previous course]. This silt may also be removed by technical means, i.e., the silted branch can be cleaned and deepened. By the way, the Danube’s silt is colossal. So, the Ukrainian side may defend the present-day border namely through a combination of diplomatic and political-legal efforts with the corresponding technical works that would bring the fairway back to the old bed.”
