Sevastopol

Sevastopol Севастополь Ukrainian / Russian Aqyar Crimean Tatar
Flag Seal
Orthographic projection of Sevastopol (in green)
Map of the Crimean Peninsula with Sevastopol highlighted
Country	Disputed:  Russia (de facto)  Ukraine
Status within Russia	Federal city in the Crimean Federal District
Status within Ukraine	City with special status
Founded	1783 (241 years ago)
Government
• Acting Governor	Sergei Menyailo[1]
Area
• Total	864 km2 (334 sq mi)
Elevation	100 m (300 ft)
Population  (2007)
• Total	379,200
• Density	438.89/km2 (1,136.7/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Sevastopolitan, Sevastopolian
Time zone	UTC+04:00 (MSK)
Postal code	299000—299699
Area code	+380-692
Licence plate	CH (Ukraine), 92 (Russia)
Decorations
Website	sevastopol.gov.ru Template:Ru icon

Sevastopol (/sɛvəˈstoʊpəl, -ˈstɒpəl/^[3] or /sɛˈvæstəpəl, -pɒl/^[3] Template:Lang-uk (same in Russian); Template:Lang-crh) is a city on the Black Sea, located in the southwestern region of the Crimean Peninsula. It is a de facto federal city of the Russian Federation and part of the Crimean Federal District. Along with the rest of the Crimean Peninsula, it is considered part of Ukraine by most of the international community,^[4] and was a de facto and de jure city in Ukraine before the 2014 Crimean crisis. In March of that year the Russian military displaced the Ukrainian military in the region, and Russia exercises administration over Sevastopol's territory since. Ukraine officially considers all of the Crimea, including Sevastopol, to be "territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation." ^[5]

Sevastopol has a population of 342,451 concentrated mostly near the Bay of Sevastopol and surrounding areas. The location and navigability of the city's harbours has made Sevastopol a strategically important naval base throughout history. The city is home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Although relatively small at 864 square kilometres (334 sq mi), Sevastopol's unique naval and maritime features provide the basis for a rich and vibrant economy. The city enjoys mild winters and moderate warm summers; characteristics that help make it a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the former Soviet republics. The city is also an important centre for marine biology; in particular, dolphins have been studied and trained in the city since the end of World War II.

The name of Sevastopolis, was originally chosen in the same etymological trend as other cities in the Crimean peninsula that was intended to reflect its ancient Greek origins. It is a compound of the Greek adjective, σεβαστός (sebastos, 'venerable') and the noun πόλις (pólis) ('city'). Σεβαστός is the traditional Greek equivalent of the Roman honorific Augustus, originally given to the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus and later awarded as a title to his successors.

Despite its Greek origin, the name itself is not from Ancient Greek times. The city was probably named after the Empress ("Augusta") Catherine II of Russia who founded Sevastopol in 1783. She visited the city in 1787 accompanied by Joseph II, the Emperor of Austria, and other foreign dignitaries.

In the west of the city, there are well-preserved ruins of an ancient Greek port city of Chersonesos, founded in the 5th^{[citation needed]} (or 4th) century BC by settlers from Heraclea Pontica. This name means "peninsula", reflecting its immediate location, and is not related to the ancient Greek name for the Crimean Peninsula as a whole: Chersonēsos Taurikē ("the Taurian Peninsula").

The name of the city is spelled as:

• In English, the current prevalent spelling of the name is Sevastopol; the previously common spelling Sebastopol is still used by some publications such as The Economist. In English the current spelling has the pronunciation /səˈvæstəˌpoʊl/ or /ˌsɛvəˈstoʊpəl/,^[6] whilst the former spelling has the pronunciation /s[invalid input: 'ɨ']ˈbæstəpəl, -pɒl/^[7] or /səˈbæstəˌpoʊl, -ˌpɔːl/.^[8]
• Template:Lang-uk; Russian: Севастополь, pronounced [seβ̞ɑsˈtɔpɔlʲ] in Ukrainian and [sʲɪvɐsˈtopəlʲ]^[9] in Russian.
• Template:Lang-crh, pronounced [aqˈjar].

In the 6th century BC a Greek colony was established in the area of the modern day city. The Greek city of Chersonesus existed for almost two thousand years, first as an independent democracy and later as a part of the Bosporan Kingdom. In the 13th and 14th centuries it was several times sacked by the Mongol Horde and was finally totally abandoned. The modern day city of Sevastopol has no connection to the ancient and medieval Greek city, but the ruins are a popular tourist attraction located in the outskirts of the city.

Sevastopol was founded in June 1783 as a base for a naval squadron under the name Akhtiar^[10] (White Cliff),^[11] by Rear Admiral Thomas Mackenzie (Foma Fomich Makenzi), a native Scot in Russian service; soon after Russia annexed the Crimean Khanate. Five years earlier, Alexander Suvorov ordered that earthworks be erected along the harbour and Russian troops be placed there. In February 1784, Catherine the Great ordered Grigory Potemkin to build a fortress there and call it Sevastopol. The realisation of the initial building plans fell to Captain Fyodor Ushakov who in 1788 was named commander of the port and of the Black Sea squadron.^[12] It became an important naval base and later a commercial seaport. In 1797, under an edict issued by Emperor Paul I, the military stronghold was again renamed to Akhtiar. Finally, on April 29 (May 10), 1826, the Senate returned the city's name to Sevastopol.

One of the most notable events involving the city is the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55) carried out by the British, French, Sardinian, and Turkish troops during the Crimean War, which lasted for 11 months. Despite its efforts, the Russian army had to leave its stronghold and evacuate over a pontoon bridge to the north shore of the inlet. The Russians had to sink their entire fleet to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy and at the same time to block the entrance of the Western ships into the inlet. When the enemy troops entered Sevastopol, they were faced with the ruins of a formerly glorious city.

A panorama of the siege originally was created by Franz Roubaud. After its destruction in 1942 during WWII, it was restored and is currently housed in a specially constructed circular building in the city. It portrays the situation at the height of the siege, on 18 June 1855.

During World War II, Sevastopol withstood intensive bombardment by the Germans in 1941–42, supported by their Italian and Romanian allies during the Battle of Sevastopol. German forces were forced to use railway artillery and specialised heavy mortars to destroy Sebastopol's extremely heavy fortifications, such as the Maxim Gorky naval battery. After fierce fighting, which lasted for 250 days, the supposedly untakable fortress city finally fell to Axis forces in July 1942. It was intended to be renamed to "Theodorichshafen" (in reference to Theodoric the Great and the fact that the Crimea had been home to Germanic Goths until the 18th or 19th century) in the event of a German victory against the Soviet Union, and like the rest of the Crimea was designated for future colonisation by the Third Reich. It was liberated by the Red Army on May 9, 1944 and was awarded with the Hero City title a year later.

In 1957, the town of Balaklava was incorporated into Sevastopol.

During the Soviet era, Sevastopol became a so-called "closed city". This meant that any non-residents had to apply to the authorities for a temporary permit to visit the city. It was directly subordinate to the central Russian SFSR authorities rather than the local oblast and later (after 1978) to the Ukrainian SSR administration.^[13]

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Moscow refused to recognise Ukrainian sovereignty over Sevastopol as well as over the surrounding Crimean oblast, using the argument that the city was never practically integrated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic because of its military status.

On December 11, 1992, the President of Ukraine called the attempt of the Russian deputies to charge the Russian parliament with a task to define the status of Sevastopol as an "imperial disease". On December 17, 1992, the office of the Ukrainian presidential representative in Crimea was created, which caused a wave of protests a month later. Among the protesters who organised the unsanctioned rally were the Sevastopol branches of the National Salvation Front, the Russian Popular Assembly, and the All-Crimean Movement of the Voters for the Republic of Crimea. The protest was held in Sevastopol on January 10 at the Nakhimov Square.

On July 10, 1993, the Russian parliament passed a resolution declaring Sevastopol to be "a federal Russian city". At the time, many supporters of the president, Boris Yeltsin, had ceased taking part in the Parliament's work.^[14]

On April 14, 1993, the Presidium of the Crimean Parliament called for the creation of the presidential post of the Crimean Republic. A week later, the Russian deputy, Valentin Agafonov, stated that Russia was ready to supervise the referendum on Crimean independence and include the republic as a separate entity in the CIS. On July 28, 1993, one of the leaders of the Russian Society of Crimea, Viktor Prusakov, stated that his organisation was ready for an armed mutiny and establishment of the Russian administration in Sevastopol. In September, Eduard Baltin accused Ukraine of converting some of his fleet and conducting an armed assault on his personnel, and threatened to take countermeasures of placing the fleet on alert.

In May 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the Peace and Friendship Treaty, ruling out Moscow's territorial claims to Ukraine.^[15] A separate agreement established the terms of a long-term lease of land, facilities, and resources in Sevastopol and the Crimea by Russia.

The ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet and its facilities were divided between Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Naval Forces. The two navies co-used some of the city's harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or used by either country. Sevastopol remained the location of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval Forces Headquarters also based in the city. A judicial row periodically continues over the naval hydrographic infrastructure both in Sevastopol and on the Crimean coast (especially lighthouses historically maintained by the Soviet or Russian Navy and also used for civil navigation support).

Like in the rest of the Crimea, Russian remained the predominant language of the city, although following the independence of Ukraine there was some attempts at Ukrainisation with very little success. The Russian society in general and even some outspoken government representatives never accepted the loss of Sevastopol and tended to regard it as temporarily separated from the homeland.^[16]

The WE Youth Political Organisation, which advocated Russian citizenship for Sevastopol residents,^[17] published a poll in 2004 claiming "72% of the Sevastopol citizens supported the idea of the independent status of Crimea. The Crimea was then an autonomous Republic within Ukraine. Besides, 95% of the respondents supported the constant stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol even after 2045, when the time of the corresponding agreement between Russia and Ukraine was suppose to end. Also, 100% of those polled favoured the option for citizens of Sevastopol to obtain dual Russian and Ukrainian citizenship. It is notable, however, that of the Sevastopol citizens that expressed a desire to obtain Russian citizenship only 16% was ready to give up the Ukrainian one."^[18]

In July 2009, the chairman of the Sevastopol city council, Valeriy Saratov (Party of Regions)^[19] stated that Ukraine should increase the amount of compensation it is paying to the city of Sevastopol for hosting the foreign Russian Black Sea Fleet, instead of requesting such obligations from the Russian government and the Russian Ministry of Defense in particular.^[20]

On April 27, 2010, Russia and Ukraine ratified the Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty, extending the Russian Navy's lease of Crimean facilities for 25 years after 2017 (through 2042) with an option to prolong the lease in 5-year extensions. The ratification process in the Ukrainian parliament encountered stiff opposition and erupted into a brawl in the parliament chamber. Eventually, the treaty was ratified by a 52% majority vote—236 of 450. The Russian Duma ratified the treaty by a 98% majority without incident.^[21]

On March 6, 2014, in response to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Sevastopol unilaterally declared that it wished to join the Russian Federation as a federal subject.^[22] The city council supported becoming a part of Russia,^[23] and on 11 March it released a joint resolution with the Supreme Council of Crimea to unite as an independent republic between the potential passing of the referendum and union with Russia.^[24] Ukrainian authorities strongly criticized referendum decision, with acting President Turchynov remarked that Building of the Supreme Council of Crimea was controlled by the Russian military when vote on referendum resolution took place^[25]

On March 16, citizens of Sevastopol were included alongside those in the Republic of Crimea in a referendum on 16 March 2014 on leaving Ukraine to join the Russian Federation – with official report of a majority of 95.6%^[26] voted to become a part of the Russian Federation, albeit these results are contested (see Crimean status referendum, 2014#Alternate estimates for details). This referendum resulted in the establishment of the short-lived Republic of Crimea, which consisted of both Sevastapol and Crimea.

On March 18, 2014, the treaty on the adoption of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia was signed between Russia and the Republic of Crimea, with the following content:^[27]

• The territory of the former Autonomous Republic of Crimea is incorporated as the Republic of Crimea (a Federal subject of Russian Federation).
• The former Special Status City of Sevastopol is incorporated as a Federal City of Russia.
• Both territories are incorporated as part of the Crimean Federal District.

This new status is not recognised by Ukraine and Crimea is still considered by Ukraine, the European Union, and most NATO members to remain only de jure a part of Ukraine.^[4]

Satellite image of the Sevastopol area, north to the right.

Fiolent rocks formation on the coast of Sevastopol.

The city of Sevastopol is located at the southwestern tip of the Crimean peninsula in a headland known as Heracles peninsula on a coast of the Black Sea. The city is designated a special city-region of Ukraine which beside the city itself includes several of its outlying settlements. The city itself is concentrated mostly at the western portion of the region and around the long Bay of Sevastopol. This bay is a ria, a river canyon drowned by Holocene sea-level rise, and the outlet of Chorna River. Away in a remote location southeast of Sevastopol is located the former city of Balaklava (since 1957 incorporated within Sevastopol), the bay of which in Soviet times served as a main port for the Soviet diesel-powered submarines.

The coastline of the region is mostly rocky, in a series of smaller bays, a great number of which are located within the Bay of Sevastopol. The biggest of them are the Southern Bay (within Bay of Sevastopol), the Archer Bay, a gulf complex that consist of the Deergrass Bay, the Bay of Cossack, the Salty Bay, and many others. There are over thirty bays in the immediate region.

Through the region flow three rivers: the Belbek, Chorna, and Kacha. All three mountain chains of Crimean mountains are represented in Sevastopol, the southern chain by the Balaklava Highlands, the inner chain by the Mekenziev Mountains, and the outer chain by the Kara-Tau Upland (Black Mountain).

Sevastopol has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa),^[28] bordering on a humid continental climate, with cool winters and warm summers.

The average yearly temperature is 15–16 °C (59–61 °F) during the day and around 9 °C (48 °F) at night. In the coldest months, January and February, the average temperature is 5–6 °C (41–43 °F) during the day and around 1 °C (34 °F) at night. In the warmest months, July and August, the average temperature is around 26 °C (79 °F) during the day and around 19 °C (66 °F) at night. Generally, summer/holiday season lasts 5 months, from around mid-May and into September, with the temperature often reaching 20 °C (68 °F) or more in the first half of October.

The average annual temperature of the sea is 14.2 °C (58 °F), ranging from 7 °C (45 °F) in February to 24 °C (75 °F) in August. From June to September, the average sea temperature is greater than 20 °C (68 °F). In the second half of May and first half of October; the average sea temperature is about 17 °C (63 °F). The average rainfall is about 400 millimetres (16 in) per year. There are about 2,345 hours of sunshine duration per year.^[29]

In 1954, both Sevastopol and the remainder of the Crimean peninsula were administratively transferred by Nikita Khrushchev from being territories within the Russian SFSR to being territories administered by the Ukrainian SSR. Administratively, Sevastopol is a municipality excluded from the adjacent Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The territory of the municipality is 863.5 km² and it is further subdivided into four raions (districts). Besides the City of Sevastopol proper, it also includes two towns—Balaklava (having had no status until 1957), Inkerman, urban-type settlement Kacha, and 29 villages. Until recently, Sevastopol had no elected mayor, instead a "Chairman of the Sevastopol City State Administration", would be appointed by the President of Ukraine, and functioned as a mayor.^[31] This made Sevastopol the only city within Ukraine where residents did not get to elect their own mayor directly.

Currently, (March 2014), the political status of Sevastopol remains uncertain, in March, 2014, as an apparent response to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution (a Ukrainian political shift which included a loosening of ties between Ukraine and Russia), Russia began to take both political and military steps in an attempt to re-annex both Sevastopol and the Crimean peninsula back to Russian administration. This attempt at re-annexation has become known as the 2014 Crimean crisis. In Sevastopol, as well as in Republic of Crimea, a referendum took place on 16 March 2014 on whether to remain part of Ukraine or to reunite with Russia. An unofficial one-person report of fragmentary and uncorroborated third-party opinion obtained in Crimea by one account said that the vast majority of voters in a 50-80% voter turnout favored reunion, by another that 50-60% of a 30-50% voter turnout favored reunion.^[32]

On March 18, 2014 the Kremlin announced that Sevastopol will become the third federal city in the Russian Federation. The two others are Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The executive power of Sevastopol is exercised by the Sevastopol City State Administration led by a chairman.^[33] Since April 2014 the executive power is held by the Government of Sevastopol, led by the City Governor.

The Sevastopol City Council is the legislature of Sevastopol. Under Ukrainian law, the mayor of Sevastopol is appointed by the central government in Kyiv. However, during the 2014 Crimean crisis, the pro-Russian City Council threw its support behind Russian citizen Alexei Chaly as the "people's mayor" and said it would not recognise orders from Kyiv.^[34][35] After the Accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation, the mayor is appointed by the legislature branch on nomination of the Russian President,^[36] and officially the mayor is called the Governor of Sevastopol City

Being a disputed territory, Sevastopol has two sets of laws governing how its administrative and municipal divisions are set up. Under both Ukrainian and Russian laws, the city is administratively divided into four districts.

Under the Ukrainian laws, the districts have both administrative and municipal status, while under the Russian laws the districts are purely administrative and have no further divisions. Within the Russian municipal framework, however, the territory of the federal city of Sevastopol is divided into nine municipal okrugs and the Town of Inkerman. While individual municipal divisions are contained within the borders of the administrative districts, they are not otherwise related to the administrative districts.

This section is missing information about Sevastopol's economic output by economic sector. Please expand the section to include this informationto include this information or by making an edit request. Further details may exist on the talk page. (March 2014)

Apart from navy-related civil facilities, Sevastopol hosts some other notable industries. An example is Stroitel, one of the leading plastics manufacturers in Russia.

The city received millions of US Dollars in compensation for hosting the Russian Black Sea Fleet from the Russian and the Ukrainian government.

There are 7 types of transport in Sevastopol:

• Bus – 337 routes
• Trolleybus – 19 routes
• Minibus – 52 routes
• Cutter – 18 routes
• Ferry – 2 routes
• Express-bus – 15 routes
• HEV-train^{[clarification needed]} – 1 route
• Airport - 1

Sevastopol Shipyard comprises three facilities that together repair, modernize, and re-equip Russian and Ukrainian Naval ships and submarines.^[37] The Sevastopol International Airport provides international aerial routes and serves as the main aerial hub.

Sevastopol maintains a large port facility in the Bay of Sevastopol and in smaller bays around the Heracles peninsula. The port handles traffic from passengers (local transportation and cruise), cargo, and commercial fishing. The port infrastructure is fully integrated with the city of Sevastopol and naval bases of the Black Sea Fleet.

Panorama of the Sevastopol port entrance (left) with its monument to Russian ships which were sunk in the Crimean war to blockade the harbour(far right side).

After World War II, Sevastopol was entirely rebuilt. Many top architects and civil engineers from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other cities and thousands of workers from all parts of the USSR took part in the rebuilding process which was mostly finished by the mid-1950s. The downtown core situated on a peninsula between two narrow inlets, South Bay and Artillery Bay, features mostly Mediterranean-style, three-story residential buildings with columned balconies and Venetian-style arches, with retail and commercial spaces occupying the ground level. Some carefully restored landmarks date back to the early 20th century (e.g., the Art Nouveau Main Post Office on Bolshaya Morskaya St and the Art Museum on Nakhimovsky Prospect). It has been a long-time tradition for the residents of surrounding suburbs to spend summer evenings by coming to the downtown area for a leisurely stroll with their families along the avenues and boulevards encircling the Central Hill, under the famous Sevastopol chestnut trees, and usually ending up on the waterfront with its famous Marine Boulevard.

Due to its military history, most streets in the city are named after Russian and Soviet military heroes. There are hundreds of monuments and plaques in various parts of Sevastopol commemorating its military past.

Attractions include:

• 
  Sevastopol Artillery Bay view.
• 
  The sea side of Sevastopol.
• 
  St. Vladimir's Cathedral at 'the city hill'.
• 
  Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.
• 
  View of the Northern side.
• 
  Old city cemetery.
• 
  Main railway station.
• 
  The Panorama Museum (The Heroic Defence of Sevastopol during the Crimean War).
• 
  The Storming of Sapun-gora of May 7, 1944, the Diorama Museum (World War II).
• 
  Entrance to Balaklava bay, 2010.

This section is missing information about the different religions practiced in Sevastopol; its education system (schools, colleges, and universities); and its healthcare system (clinics and hospitals). Please expand the section to include this informationto include this information or by making an edit request. Further details may exist on the talk page. (March 2014)

The population of Sevastopol proper is 342,451 (2001), making it the 15th largest city in Ukraine and the largest in Crimea. City agglomeration has population 961,885 (2008). According to the Ukrainian National Census, 2001, the ethnic groups of Sevastopol include Russians (71.6%), Ukrainians (22.4%), Belarusians (1.6%), Tatars (0.7%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Armenians (0.3%), Jews (0.3%), Moldovans (0.2%), and Azerbaijanis (0.2%).^[38]

Age structure 0–14 years old male 27.856 / female 26,532 (14.3% ) 15–64 years old male 126,918 / female 141,304 (70.3% ) 65 years and over male 19,038 / female 39,826 (15.4% ) Source: [citation needed][disputed – discuss]

Median age Male 36.0 years Female 44.6 years Total 40.2 years Source: [citation needed]

This section is missing information about architecture, arts, cuisine, literature, media, and music in Sevastopol. Please expand the section to include this informationto include this information or by making an edit request. Further details may exist on the talk page. (March 2014)

There are many historical buildings in the central and eastern parts of the city and Balaklava, some of which are architectural monuments. The Western districts have modern architecture. More recently, numerous skyscrapers have been built. Balaklava Bayfront Plaza (On Hold), currently under construction, will be one of the tallest buildings in Ukraine, at 173 m (568 ft) with 43 floors.^[39]

After the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea the city's monument to Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny was removed and handed over to Kharkiv.^[40]

• Moscow (March 18, 2014)
• Volgograd (November 19, 2013)
• Saint Petersburg (2000)
• Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (2009)
• Belgorod
• Galaţi (since 1997)

• 
  View of Sevastopol.
• 
  Ships of the Black Sea Fleet docked in Sevastopol.
• 
  Nakhimov square.
• 
  Culture Palace.
• 
  Theater Lunacharsky.
• 
  Artillery Bay

• 2121 Sevastopol – asteroid discovered in 1971 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova and named after the city.^[41]

• Official website Template:Ru icon
• Satellite picture by Google Maps