60 Ukrainians Mutiny on Black Sea Fleet Vessel

About 60 Ukrainian crew members of a Black Sea Fleet patrol boat mutinied Tuesday, raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and sailing to the Ukrainian port of Odessa to protest rough treatment by Russian superiors.

Russian commanders of the Black Sea Fleet dispatched warships to head off the rebel vessel. But Ukraine’s naval commander disavowed the mutiny, and negotiations were reportedly under way.

Although the mutiny appeared to be motivated more by general discontent than by politics, it served as a reminder that the Black Sea Fleet will remain a tinderbox vulnerable to any spark of nationalism, until Russia and Ukraine agree on how to divide it.

The revolt looked at first like an attempt by Ukrainian sailors to simply grab their boat on behalf of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, despite Russian and Ukrainian pledges to make no sharp, unilateral moves in the Black Sea while talks on the fleet progressed.

The boat’s crew had reportedly sworn loyalty to Ukraine in January. But Valery Novikov, spokesman for the Commonwealth of Independent States navy, said that 30% of the crew had refused to take the oath to Ukraine.

And Ukrainian leaders offered no encouragement to the mutineers. In a move certain to lessen Russian-Ukrainian tension over the incident, Boris Kozhin, commander of the Ukrainian navy, publicly rejected the mutiny and said the raising of the Ukrainian flag was purely the crew’s decision.