RUSSIAN DEMANDS ON FLEET THREATEN KIEV SUMMIT, POLITICAL TREATY.

Only days before the scheduled Russian-Ukrainian summit and treaty signing in Kiev, Ukrainian prime minister Yevhen Marchuk said over the weekend that Moscow and Kiev stood far apart on unresolved issues relating to the Black Sea Fleet. A working group cochaired by Deputy Prime Ministers Aleksey Bolshakov and Vasyl Durdinets suspended talks for the weekend following a deadlock on the status of Sevastopol and on the terms and duration of the basing of the Russian fleet in Ukraine. Alluding to Russian demands for exclusive basing rights in Sevastopol, foreign minister Hennady Udovenko told the diplomatic corps in Kiev that the Ukrainian navy must also have bases in Sevastopol "as a sovereign right of our country." President Leonid Kuchma implied that Boris Yeltsin is being misled by "opponents of equitable Russian-Ukrainian relations, who use a normal negotiating process to worsen the situation and raise political tensions." In Moscow, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin explained with reference to the Crimea that Russia needed "to defend its southern shores." (Interfax-Ukraine, March 29 and 30)

The Monitor is a publication of the Jamestown Foundation. It is researched and written under the direction of senior analysts Jonas Bernstein, Vladimir Socor, Stephen Foye, and analysts Ilya Malyakin, Oleg Varfolomeyev and Ilias Bogatyrev. If you have any questions regarding the content of the Monitor, please contact the foundation. If you would like information on subscribing to the Monitor, or have any comments, suggestions or questions, please contact us by e-mail at pubs@jamestown.org, by fax at 301-562-8021, or by postal mail at The Jamestown Foundation, 4516 43rd Street NW, Washington DC 20016. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution of the Monitor is strictly prohibited by law. Copyright (c) 1983-2002 The Jamestown Foundation Site Maintenance by Johnny Flash Productions