Black Sea Fleet

… and the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, was struck by a pair of Ukrainian-produced Neptune anti-ship missiles off the coast of Odesa. Russian authorities claimed that the ship had suffered an ammunition fire but that it was being towed to port for repairs. When the Moskva sank the following…

…a heavy toll on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. In addition, Ukrainian cruise missiles targeted docked ships as well as the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. One of the ships destroyed, the Kilo-class attack submarine Rostov-on-Don, represented the first combat loss of a Soviet or Russian submarine since…

…Ukraine over control of the Black Sea Fleet and Sevastopol, the Crimean port city where the fleet was based, was particularly acrimonious. Early in 1992 Ukraine laid claim to the entire fleet, which had been an important naval asset of the Soviet Union. Russia responded unequivocally that the fleet always…

…the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, until 2042. In exchange, Ukraine would receive a reduction in the price of Russian natural gas. The parliamentary debate over the agreement devolved into a melee, with some members of the opposition throwing eggs and lighting smoke bombs, but the measure narrowly…