One of Viktor Yanukovich first actions after his election as President of Ukraine in February of this year was to negotiate a headline-grabbing but highly dubious deal with Russia, in which Ukraine extended the lease of the Russian Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol for 25 to 30 years in exchange for a 10-year discount off the price of gas. This CEPS Commentary finds the deal highly questionable on political, strategic and economic grounds.
The author, Michael Emerson, is Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and head of the EU Foreign, Security and Neighbourhood Policies research unit.