Soviet naval arms control ambitions in the Mediterranean: will Russia accept this heritage?

This assessment of the significance of the Southern flank was shared by the Soviets regardless of the fact that for the first time since the Crimean War Russia faced not just a direct military challenge from the Mediterranean but was gravely threatened by the deployment of US nuclear capable aircraft in the region. [...] In reality, the accord on the Strategic Forces of the CIS proved to be illusory and only pushed the Ukraine to accelerate the process of gaining control over the Fleet. [...] The officer corps of the Fleet hard pressed to chose sides and tired of total disarray created the Coordinating Committee in a way reminiscent of revolutionary committees that had taken the power and replaced the leadership of the Imperial Russian Navy in 1917. [...] 18 For the text of the "Agreement between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the Principles Governing the Formation of the Fleet of Russia and Ukraine on the Basis of the Former Black Sea Fleet of the USSR", see Rossiskaya Gazeta, 8 August 1992. [...] The point of contention is whether the traditional understanding of the 12 term makes it valid to be applied to the current status of the relations between Russia and the NATO countries.