Sevastopol

Sevastopol (also sometimes called Sebastopol), city in southern Ukraine, on the Crimean Peninsula. Located on an inlet of the Black Sea, the city is a major naval base and seaport. Shipbuilding as well as food and wood processing are two major industries here.

A Greek colony called Chersonesus was founded near the site of modern Sevastopol in the late 5th century bc. Chersonesus later passed successively to the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and Genoa. By the 14th century ad the site of Sevastopol was occupied by the Tatar settlement of Akhtiar. After the Crimean Peninsula came under Russian control in 1783, the site was made a strongly fortified naval base by Catherine the Great and was named Sevastopol. During the Crimean War the city sustained an 11-month siege (1854-1855) and was severely damaged. From 1918 to 1920, it was the headquarters of the White Russian army under Baron P. N. Wrangel. During World War II Sevastopol was captured by German and Romanian troops in 1942 after a nine-month siege; Soviet forces retook the city in 1944.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine and Russia both laid claim to the Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol. An agreement was reached in 1992 to share joint command of the fleet until 1995, when it was divided between the two countries. Tensions over the fleet continued despite the agreement, as each party accused the other of violating agreement provisions. In mid-1997 the two governments reached a new accord in which Russia took about 80 per cent of the fleet and dropped any claim to Sevastopol, agreeing to lease its use of the port. Ukraine’s share of the fleet was also to remain in Sevastopol. Population 342,000 (2001).