Ocnus.Net
Naval Imbalance in the Black Sea After the Russian-Georgian War
By Vladimir Socor, Eurasia 26/11/08
Nov 27, 2008 - 10:59:11 AM
These arrangements center on the
BLACKSEAFOR activities, the Black Sea Harmony operation, and a few
other joint projects on maritime security. Focused on handling
post-modern (“new-type”) challenges to security, and partly turning
from means to that end into ends in themselves, these arrangements
ultimately provided a multilateral cover on Russo-Turkish naval joint
sovereignty. This de facto condominium has excluded NATO naval presence
as such from the Black Sea, to the frustration of NATO members Romania
and Bulgaria and NATO aspirants Georgia and Ukraine.
BLACKSEAFOR, Black Sea Harmony, and the rest proved completely
irrelevant during Russia’s attack on Georgia and in its aftermath. They
lack the mandate and the means to deal with real security issues and
can not even set the agenda of internal discussions without unanimous
consent, that is, without Russian consent in the case of the
Russian-Georgian conflict. These collective arrangements proved equally
irrelevant when Russia’s Black Sea Fleet breached Ukraine’s neutrality,
using its territory to attack Georgia.
Ukrainian President Yushchenko and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
protested against this flagrant violation and demanded that the Russian
fleet notify Ukraine in advance each time its ships crossed Ukraine’s
maritime border in the future. Moscow replied disdainfully to the
protests, and the Russian fleet has disregarded Ukraine’s
prenotification request.
This situation again demonstrated Russia’s willingness to exploit its
naval superiority against its Black Sea neighbors. With Turkey watching
passively from the sidelines and NATO responding with a one-time visit
by five ships in September, it has fallen to the United States to
address the imbalance in the aftermath of the Russian operation.
>From the August war to date, the United States has maintained an
uninterrupted naval presence in the Black Sea. That presence is
constrained, however, by the Montreux Convention’s limitations on naval
tonnage passing through the Turkish Straits and duration of naval
visits in the Black Sea. The United States has therefore rotated its
ships in the Black Sea at intervals consistent with that convention.
The Sixth Fleet’s flagship USS Mount Whitney, destroyers USS Dallas and
Barry, oceanographic ship Pathfinder, and other U.S. ships have been
cruising in the Black Sea and visiting Georgian, Bulgarian, and
Romanian ports, as well as Ukraine’s naval port in Sevastopol. The
Mount Whitney’s second visit ended on November 19 and has been followed
seamlessly by the USS Barry on a two-week mission
Although largely symbolic, these naval visits provide a visible
demonstration of U.S. security commitments in the region. Beyond
symbolism, however, the naval imbalance between Russia and its
neighbors needs to be addressed in practical terms, following the
attack on Georgia.
The United States and Ukraine are discussing the possibility of the
U.S. handing over two frigates of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, armed
with guided missiles, to the Ukrainian Navy. U.S. Defense Secretary
Robert Gates and Ukrainian Defense Minster Yuriy Yekhanurov broke this
news on the October 8 during a meeting in Ohrid of the defense
ministers of South-East European countries. The discussions are in
progress.
First built in the 1970s by the United States, frigates of this class
are equipped for anti-submarine and surface combat as well as for air
defense. According to Ukrainian sources, the U.S. Navy currently has 30
frigates of this class on active duty and another nine in reserve. From
1994 to 2002 the United States handed over four frigates of this class
to Egypt, seven to Turkey, and one to Bahrain, and built four of them
for the Australian Navy. Frigates of this class are regarded as far
more advanced and powerful than any ship in the Ukrainian Navy’s
inventory
Some West European countries also show an interest in improving
Ukraine’s naval capabilities, following the Russian fleet’s defiance of
Ukrainian sovereignty. Dutch diplomats and the Swedish Defense Attaché
in Ukraine met on November 19 with the Ukrainian Navy’s commander,
Admiral Ihor Teniukh, at the Ukrainian naval base in Sevastopol. They
discussed possible Dutch participation in the Sea Breeze-2009 exercise
(an annual U.S.-led exercise in Ukrainian coastal areas) and possible
cooperation by Sweden with the Ukrainian Navy’s reform program.
Following Russia’s invasion of Georgia, NATO has disinvited Russia from
the alliance’s Active Endeavor operation in the Mediterranean (where
Russian participation was only token in any case). It remains to be
seen whether BLACKSEAFOR activities will continue business as usual
with the Russian fleet, after its attack on Georgia and breach of
Ukrainian neutrality. For its part, Turkey seems set to proceed with
Black Sea Harmony unperturbed by Russia’s recent conduct.
Source: Ocnus.net 2008