Russia/Ukraine: Common Ground Reached On Border Agreements

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/04/0eaa0c45-6088-474d-93c4-ee02b514cebd.html

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The Azov seabed is reputedly rich in oil reserves, while the Kerch Strait, which permits access to the Black Sea, is of strategic military importance.

Last year, Russian authorities unilaterally started building a dam across the Kerch Strait toward the tiny Ukrainian island of Tuzla. Ukraine warned it would not allow construction to proceed to its side of the waterway and implied it would use force by posting soldiers on Tuzla.

The work was halted after both sides agreed to negotiations.

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Yesterday's agreement gives Russia what it wanted. It fixes the legal status of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait as inland waters of the two countries. It provides for joint use of the Azov-Kerch water area and bans the entry of warships of third countries without mutual consent. That will prevent Ukraine from inviting NATO warships to joint maneuvers in the Sea of Azov, something it has never done but a possibility Russia wanted to sink.

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