Moscow and Kiev find way to solve fleet dispute

Russia and Ukraine are close to signing a deal ending the long dispute over the Black Sea Fleet, clearing up one of the most intractable problems arising from the division of the former Soviet Union.

Agreement follows a meeting between Pavel Grachev, the Russian Defence Minister, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Valeriy Shmarov, in Tysovets, western Ukraine, last week. They also agreed to transfer 25 strategic bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, to Russia in exchange for various other aircraft. Mr Shmarov said he favoured a "protracted" enlargement of Nato to the east but insisted Ukraine would not join any military blocs, neither Nato nor a revived military alliance based on Russia.

The former Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet is bigger than the Royal Navy. Its 28 submarines, 31 major surface warships and 88 smaller vessels are based at Sevastopol, in the Crimea, which Khrushchev gave to Ukraine in the 1960s and which remained part of the new state when it separated from the Soviet Union in 1991. The Black Sea Fleet also has more than 200 aircraft.

General Grachev said on Friday that he was confident the issue would soon be resolved. Mr Shmarov said there were three separate agreements: dividing the fleet; where the Ukrainian component should be based; and settling debts. Division of the fleet has already been agreed: the Russians will get the biggest surface ships, including a helicopter-carrier and four cruisers and all the submarines, while Ukraine will get smaller warships. Georgia, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, is also likely to get two warships under of the deal.

Among the submarines to be kept by Russia is an experimental craft called the Beluga, which appears to be powered by batteries alone, and which, unlike other non-nuclear submarines, does not need to surface for air. The Black Sea's shallow waters are ideal for trials with experimental craft.

The sticking-point in the dispute has been the bases. Ukraine wants its ships to be based at Sevastopol but in a separate harbour from the Russians, so that the two fleets stay out of each other's way; Russia wants Sevastopol to itself and the Ukrainian Fleet to be based at Odessa.

The Russian Air Force commander, Colonel-General Pyotr Deynekin, said the 25 strategic bombers - 10 Tu-160 Blackjacks and 15 Tu-95 Bears - would be returned to Russia from their bases at Uzin and Priluki. Ukraine will also transfer about 300 air-to-ground guided missiles to Russia.

In return, the Russians will send Ukraine transport planes, helicopters, eight MiG-29s and four Su-27 aircraft.

The return of the heavy bombers to Russia is consistent with the agreed policy that it should be the nuclear successor state to the Soviet Union. Most of the nuclear missiles based in Ukraine have now been returned to Russia.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, only a few SS-18 missiles remain.

Most Russian troops have also been largely withdrawn from former Soviet republics, although special contingents have been sent into problem areas as peace-keepers for the Commonwealth of Independent States .

There are about 12,000 Russian troops in Tajikistan and an 11,000-strong Russian-Turkmen force in Turkmenistan. There are also two Russian contingents in Georgia: a 3,000-strong peace-keeping detachment in Abkhazia and an 800-strong Russian battalion in South Ossetia. There is also a 1,600-strong detachment from the Russian 14th Army in Moldova. The other former Soviet republics are militarily weak. The most effective are probably Ukraine and Belarus, which retain some modern equipment and reasonably large forces, although their ability to conduct military operations on any scale is doubtful.

The armed forces of all the former Soviet republics are suffering the same problems as those of Russia, including cash starvation and lack of recruits but without the modern equipment and infrastructure which has enabled Moscow to maintain some elite units at a reasonable level of efficiency.

The most efficient armed forces are probably those of the Baltic states. They are receiving Western training and equipment but are very small.