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ships within their agreed percentage as barter payments for gas and oil to the Russians,
and that was to be the basis of the negotiations.
On the issue of bases for the Russians, the Ukrainians simply said, "Your presence here is
awkward. We'll let you stay even 50 years, but you're here as renters, and we will
negotiate the rent. It's our territory. There are historic reasons why you're staying. We
don't like it, but we can't get you out."
Q: A bit like Guantanamo Bay.
MILLER: It is. Guantanamo is a very good analogy for Sevastopol. As difficult as the
basing issue in Sevastopol was, it was less difficult than the larger one I referred to
earlier: The Independent Republic of Crimea. Yuri Meshkov, was elected president, by
referendum of the independent republic. Ukraine did not accord any legitimacy to the
referendum or to the newly declared republic. With the approval of the Ukrainian
government, I went to meet with President Meshkov in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea.
I was the first official American to visit Crimea under the independent circumstances, and
certainly the first official to meet with Meshkov. It was an astonishing, if bizarre first
meeting. He had an armed guard that surrounded him wherever he went of eight
paratroopers dressed in combat fatigues, field boots and armed with loaded Kalashnikovs.
We met in his office, sat opposite each other in the middle of a very long table. Meshkov
was flanked by his Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He was very nervous. He read
from a prepared statement asking for the support of the United States for the independent
republic from Ukraine. I answered his formal greeting with courtesy, I hope, and a very
direct opening that said, "I'm the ambassador to the sovereign state of Ukraine, and I'm
very pleased to be in Crimea, which is a very beautiful, historic part of Ukraine." Despite
this opening difference, Meshkov was very welcoming and he was trying to explain how
all this came about. We talked about many things, where he was from. He had some
Crimean roots, but his closest ties were mostly Russia. His cabinet included some
Russians economists that I knew in Moscow. The prime minister, so-called, Suvorov was
his name, was one of the “new economists” in Moscow in the perestroika period. Some of
the other economists were people I had run into while in Moscow.
The Meshkov government was putting together a cabinet to run a country that obviously
didn't have funds. They were supported to some degree even publicly from Moscow
through the party Meshkov led. It was a very tenuous situation, because in Simferopol,
which is the capital of Crimea, there was also a governor of Crimea approved by Ukraine,
who I also called on, as well as the Ukrainian police chief, and the commander of the
Ukrainian armed forces based in Crimea, the Ukrainian forces. Meshkov survived for
about a year during which time I visited him several times. It was always interesting to
meet with him in this state of suspended animation. Meshkov somehow thought that the
United States would recognize his Republic of Independent Crimea as a sovereign state
and that he would receive aid and assistance.
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