The Ukraina missile cruiser was built in Ukraine and is 95-percent combat ready. Most likely she will be sold to Russia, as soon as a bargain is struck, said Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov in Vladivostok on Sunday. His statement was confirmed by his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykhailo Yezhel. He was sure the issue would be resolved in the near future. He was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying, “I wouldn’t want to make guesses, but today we visited the Pacific Fleet’s Varyag cruiser of the same type and saw what she was all about. I wouldn’t order the Ukraina cut down, not with her 95-percent combat readiness. I think Serdyukov wants the Russian Navy to have another such cruiser.” He went on to say that the Ukrainian cruiser no longer bears the name Ukraina, that she is on record under some number. What a shame! To think that Ukraine with its large shipbuilding capacities is unable to finish this ship and show the world that it is indeed a naval power and has a modern navy; and that this cruiser has become anonymous.
Of course, patriotic sentiments aside and in the spirit of the times, finding a buyer for this expensive and unnecessary toy is a reason to rejoice. But the bargain is still to be made. Moscow may find Kyiv’s price excessive and will tell us to find another buyer or let the ship rust in the harbour.
Exchanging this ship for Ukraine’s gas debts (that must have accumulated after the Kharkiv gas-fleet accords whereby Ukraine got the so-called one-hundred-dollar discount compared to the Tymoshenko-Putin agreement of January 19, 2009) would not be the best option. Perhaps coincidentally, when asked by a journalist about what price would be acceptable to Russia, Serdyukov replied jokingly: “For free.”
His reply to the question about where the cruiser would be deployed if and when purchased by Russia sounded derisive: “On the Black Sea.” Short and to the point. In other words, the former Ukraina will most likely be deployed at Sevastopol, now that the Russian naval base has a term of 25 years, not until 2017 as was originally agreed. Russia doesn’t have another naval base on the Black Sea and isn’t likely to have any in the foreseeable future. Why build a naval base at Novorossiysk when there is one at Sevastopol?
In May 2010, president Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine and President Dmitry Medvedev of the Russian Federation agreed on the completion of the missile cruiser Ukraina. Yanukovych’s allegation that this will serve to improve cooperation in the shipbuilding sphere is hard to digest. Several months later, the Verkhovna Rada canceled its resolution on naming the cruiser Ukraina, explaining that finishing her construction and adding her to the Ukrainian Navy were not legally envisaged, so the name Ukraina was irrelevant. One is reminded of a Soviet animated cartoon in which one of the characters says, “The way you name a ship will be the way she will perform.” A very unpleasant implication in the case of the cruiser. She started being built at the government-run 61 Communards Shipyard in Mykolaiv (September 1984), commissioned by the Navy of the USSR, and launched in August 1990. In 1992-95, Ukraina was renovated, as ordered by the Defense Mi-nistry of Ukraine. The construction process stopped in 1996 and did not resume until 1998 when the shipyard signed a new contract with the defense ministry. The latter had no choice, considering that Ukraine had no actual navy of its own. In 2001, the construction project was cut short. Too bad for the Ukrainian state.
In Vladivostok, Serdyukov showed Yezhel the might and beauty of the Russian Navy, acting as the stronger of two parties and hinting at the absence of the Ukrainian Navy, as well as proposing that Ukraine use Russian warships with Ukrainian Spetsnaz units on board to combat the pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Hence the possibility of a barter deal, whereby Ukraine lets Russia have the missile cruiser in exchange for a free voyage to Somalia and an opportunity for Ukrainian marines to get some fighting experience. Yezhel agreed that each side should contribute to the Anti-Piracy Naval Campaign of the EU’s Operation Atalanta. He said that an end should be put to piracy at sea, but that there are various ways to take part in this operation, including by placing task forces on board warships. Yezhel’s approach implies Ukraine taking its time in making a decision, so as not to become Russia’s yes-man: “We have a plan that involves using the Be-12 amphibious aircraft in that area, it will operate in collaboration with the Russian Navy,” theorized the Ukrainian admiral, stressing that this antisubmarine aircraft has a sufficient combat range and is equipped to monitor the maritime situation.
His Russian counterpart kept his line (actually the purpose of Yezhel’s visit). Serdyukov confided to Yezhel that Russia needed to re-equip the Black Sea Fleet and later made a statement for journalists, to the effect that Russia and Ukraine intended to sign a pertinent agreement. The question is why he spoke so confidently on behalf of Ukraine. This took even Yezhel by surprise. He stressed that Russia had no problems re-equipping the Black Sea Fleet, notably because the issue was clearly determined by the 1996 fleet deployment agreement: “We are acting in accordance with this agreement and the rest is a matter of negotiations.” His Russian counterpart concurred, although he believed that the agreement in question was interpreted differently by each party, so it was time to revise the old and sign new instruments, in order not to need Ukraine’s consent to re-equipment.
In other words, the admirals were simply haggling with each other. Serdyukov was prepared to buy the cruiser but wanted a fringe benefit, namely the right to re-equip the fleet without being monitored by the Ukrainian side. Yezhel was selling a useless toy, but he was afraid of making a bad bargain, considering that there was no tender, that political strings were attached to the deal. What if the GPU gets him one day? Never mind his being a figurehead in the whole affair. Making whipping guys pay is a long and well-established tradition here.
