Sevastopol as a Stumbling Block of the «Big Treaty»

Abstract

The author considers the main reasons for the failure of good neighborly relations between Ukraine and Russia, which invalidated their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership. Analyzing the historical events since 1991, the author comes to the conclusion that in spite of many points being at issue between the states, the sorest of them is the Crimea controversy, not so much in terms of the territory as in those of the circumstances under which the issue emerged and has been developing. These can be qualified as breach of trust committed by Ukraine regarding the destiny of Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet.

Keywords

• russian-ukrainian relations
• “the big treaty”
• sevastopol
• black sea fleet
• crimea