2003 Tuzla Island conflict
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The 2003 Tuzla Island conflict was a brief armed confronation between Russia and Ukraine over
Tuzla Island Tuzla Island (, , crh, Тузла; from Turkish "tuzla" – salty, saline, literally: ''saltpan'') is a sandy islet in the form of a spit located in the middle of the Strait of Kerch between the Kerch Peninsula in the west and the Taman Pe ...
.


Background

Tuzla Island is a sandy island, located off of the coast of the Crimean Peninsula. Formerly a strait connected by land to the Kuban region of Russia, it was disconnected from it by heavy storm in 1925. In 1941, the island was transfered to the Crimean A.S.S.R. In 1954, Tuzla Island was tranferred to the Ukrainian S.S.R., alongside the rest of the then-Crimean Oblast. Tuzla Island come under the control of the briefly-independent
Republic of Crimea The Republic of Crimea, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; uk, Республіка Крим, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; crh, , is an unrecognized federal subject ( republic) of Russia, located in the Crimean Peninsula. Its territory ...
before joining with Ukraine when the Crimean parliament joined Ukraine in 1995. The island was home to a dozen families of Ukrainian fishermen, in addition to a number of hotels. Russia recognized Ukrainian soverignty over Crimea in
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, but the status of Tuzla Island was not settled and remained a sorespot in Russia-Ukraine relations. The
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of ...
at the time, Alexksandr Tkachyov, stated "...I think that this is land that was bathed in Cossack blood, and therefore it is our sacred land", claiming the peninsula as part of Russia. Tkachyov had later met with the deputy speaker of the
Russian duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
,
Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) fr ...
, with Zhirinovsky claiming that the majority of the Duma backed the Russian claim over Tuzla island. Controlling the island would give either country much control over the shipping to the Sea of Azov, and for that reason was seen as a priority for the Ukrainian government.


Events

On September 9, 2003, Russian authorities began construction on a dam from the
Taman Peninsula The Taman Peninsula (russian: Тама́нский полуо́стров, ''Tamanskiy poluostrov'') is a peninsula in the present-day Krasnodar Krai of Russia, which borders the Sea of Azov to the North, the Strait of Kerch to the West and the ...
towards Tuzla island, with a number of Kuban Cossack activists following the construction workers. It is still disputed what entity in Russia began the construction, with one version of events claiming that local Kuban Cossacks began construction to manage salt water flow to Taman Bay due to issues with breeding fish and erosion. Kyiv newspaper "
Zerkalo nedeli ''Dzerkalo Tyzhnia'' ( ua, Дзеркало тижня), usually referred to in English as the ''Mirror Weekly'', was one of Ukraine's most influential analytical weekly-publisher newspapers, founded in 1994.Leonid Hrach Leonid Ivanovych Hrach ( uk, Леоні́д Іва́нович Гра́ч), also as Leonid Ivanovich Grach (russian: Леони́д Ива́нович Гра́ч), is a Soviet, Ukrainian, and Russian politician. Biography Hrach was born in a town ...
to convince Ukraine and Russia to build a bridge over the Kerch strait. The Ukrainian government responded by deploying additional border guards on the island, with then-
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...
stating “Tuzla is an integral part of Ukrainian territory". Deputy Prime minister
Mykola Azarov Mykola Yanovych Azarov ( uk, Мико́ла Я́нович Аза́ров, ; né Pakhlo; Cyrillic: Пахло; born 17 December 1947) is a Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014. He was t ...
later stated that the Ukrainian government would spend “whatever amount necessary” to defend its national interest following the allocation of 5.5 million
hryvnia The or ( ; uk, гривня , : ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 . It is named after a measure of weight used in medieval Kievan Rus'. Name Etym ...
to increase border security on Tuzla. On October 21, 2003, the Border Service of Ukraine arrested the Russian tugboat ''Truzhenik,'' claiming that it had crossed the border. On October 23, 2003, the
Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
issued a resolution "to eliminate a threat to the territorial integrity of Ukraine that appeared as a result of dam construction by the Russian Federation in the strait of Kerch". A provisional special parliamentary commission was created to investigate the case more thoroughly. On October 30–31, 2003, talks started between Ukraine and Russia in order to deflate the crisis. Russian authorities halted construction of the dam following the end of talks.


Aftermath

The incident would damage
Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corru ...
's reputation domestically, as he was accused of attempting to control Ukrainian media reporting on the event. ''Truzhenik'' would later be handed back to Russian authorities when tensions cooled. Following the 2003 conflict, the
Supreme Council of Crimea Verkhovna Rada of Crimea or the Supreme Council of Crimea, officially the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea ( uk, Верховна Рада Автономної Республіки Крим, Verkhovna Rada Avtonomnoï Respubl ...
ordered the establishment of a new settlement on the island, but the government of Kerch City refused to allow it. Disputes about right of passage were resolved by a 2003 bilateral agreement on cooperation in the use of the Sea of Azov and the strait of Kerch, which made these water bodies shared internal waters of both countries. The island came under full Russian control following the
2014 Russian annexation of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The events in Kyiv th ...
, and part of the Kerch strait bridge would be constructed on it.


See also

* Russia-Ukraine relations *
1986 Black Sea incident On March 13, 1986, the American cruiser and the destroyer , claiming the right of innocent passage, entered Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea near the southern Crimean Peninsula. The warships passed within six miles of the Soviet coa ...
*
1988 Black Sea bumping incident The Black Sea bumping incident of 12 February 1988 occurred when American cruiser tried to exercise the right of innocent passage through Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea during the Cold War. The cruiser was bumped by the Soviet friga ...
*
2018 Kerch Strait incident The Kerch Strait incident was an international incident that occurred on 25 November 2018 in the Kerch Strait, during which the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels after they ...
* 2021 Black Sea incident


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuzla island conflict, 2003 2003 in Russia 2003 in Ukraine History of Crimea 21st-century military history of Russia 2003 in international relations Conflicts in 2003 Conflicts in Ukraine Political scandals in Ukraine Post-Soviet conflicts Territorial disputes of Russia Territorial disputes of Ukraine Russia–Ukraine relations October 2003 events in Russia October 2003 events in Ukraine