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Despite its rusty look, the Russian fleet still enjoys a reputation as a major employer and taxpayer in Sevastopol.

re built in the 70’s and 80’s are now looking worn out and obsolete. Ukraine banned its neighbor from bringing in new war vessels as a part of a 20-year lease agreement that allows the Black Sea Fleet to use Crimean bays.

Despite its rusty look, the fleet still enjoys a reputation as a major employer and taxpayer in Sevastopol. The withdrawal of the Russian ships scheduled for 2017 is feared by many because it may bring economic and social decay of the town.

The city administration, however, dispels these fears. “Taxes the fleet pays make up 12 to 15 percent of the city budget. And over the next five years, this figure will slump down to five percent,” says deputy head Dmitriy Bazev. In his opinion, the fleet’s departure will open up new doors for the unique non-freezing Sevastopol bay.

At the moment, the Russian military occupies the best territories which could be used for cargo shipping and passenger transportation, he says. “Take Rinat Ahmetov’s company Avlita, which operates metal and grain terminals in the port. It’s a complex infrastructure employing thousands of people. By freeing more space in the bay, we’ll be able to build car and coal terminals.”

The Communist Party, which mostly represents Sevastopol pensioners and veterans, argues that demilitarizing the region will undo the social, economic and political fabric of the city. “The Russian fleet provides security for us. Ukraine has one outdated ship and no naval potential in the foreseeable future,” says Vasiliy Parhomenko, city council deputy from the Communist Party. He is convinced that 5,000 people working for the fleet’s ship-repair plant will be left overboard when Russia pulls out of Sevastopol.

“But there’ll be nothing to fix at this plant by 2017,” assures navy expert Myhailo Samus from the Center of Army Studies and Disarmament in Kyiv. “The ships will turn into rust buckets. There will be nothing to withdraw.” Like city government officials, he also insists that the bay’s favorable geographical location in the middle of the Black Sea and its natural qualities should be used for civil purposes.

Chances of reviving Ukraine’s navy seem very slim indeed.

However, construction of new type of corvettes able to patrol areas as large as the Mediterranean is under way. The European Union is expected to supply nearly forty percent of components, mainly ammunition, to complete the first ship by 2012.

“The fleet is like an old military map rather than a fighting machine. It’s a myth that it’s a backbone of the city,” Samus says. He explains that Russia’s other Black Sea base in Novorossiysk, where the fleet could be moved, is located on the edge of the sea, making it less effective than in the Sevastopol harbor.

It seems that economic repercussions of the fleet’s departure may not be as dreadful as they are made to appear by some pro-Russian political forces.

Port infrastructure together with agriculture, wine-making, industry and tourism sectors of the local economy are able to make Sevastopol prosper. But as all sides concur, to be effective by the time of fleet withdrawal, these industries have to take off now.