Sevastopol

   A port city on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Sevastopol was formerly the home of the Soviet Union’s Black Sea Fleet. Today, the city is shared by both the Russian and Ukrainian navies. The city has a population of 342,000, approximately 25,000 of whom are Russian military personnel. Russia leases several harbors around the city for naval use under an agreement that expires in 2017. Ukraine has signaled that it will not renew the lease, thus forcing Russia to begin the transfer of its naval facilities to its own Black Sea port cities. In the early postindependence period, Moscow refused to recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over militarized portions of the city; however, a 1997 agreement saw Russia abandoning any territorial claims to Sevastopol. Despite this, certain ultranationalists within Russia continue to lobby for its integration into the Russian Federation or the granting of Russian citizenship to the city’s residents. With a pleasant climate, scenic quays, and art nouveau architecture, Sevastopol is an attractive tourist destination; however, during the Soviet period, it was a closed city due to its military significance. Like the rest of Crimea, the Russian language is the dominant medium of communication. Ethnic Russians form a majority (71 percent), while Ukrainians make up slightly less than a quarter of the city’s population.