By Steve Gutterman

Associated Press Writer

August 23, 1997

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- This year, when scores of American Marines land on Ukraine's Crimean coast for military exercises they will be carried ashore unassumingly rather than storm the beach Hollywood-style.

And instead of a combat theme, the mission will take place under a more humanitarian scenario.

The Sea Breeze '97 drill that begins today will differ little from other exercises that have brought thousands of Western troops onto Ukrainian soil since the former Soviet republic joined NATO's Partnership for Peace program in 1994.

But the exercise has raised the hackles of Moscow officials, pro-Russians in the region, Crimean separatists and Ukrainians who oppose President Leonid Kuchma's quest for closer ties with NATO.

And so the event has been tweaked to take away some of its thunder.

Russia added Crimea to its empire in the 18th century, but Kremlin boss Nikita Khrushchev ceded it to the then-Soviet republic of Ukraine in 1954. The peninsula -- which juts into the Black Sea and boasts extensive naval facilities -- became part of an independent Ukraine in 1991.

That galls nationalist politicians in Moscow and an outspoken segment of the ethnic Russian majority on Crimea, who have turned Sea Breeze into a symbol of what they see as Ukraine's pro-Western, anti-Russian policies.

Leonid Grach, head of Crimea's Communist Party, says thousands of Crimeans will demonstrate Monday against both Sea Breeze and Ukraine's growing NATO ties.

Last month, Russia-friendly lawmakers sought -- unsuccessfully -- to pass legislation calling off Sea Breeze and banning NATO troops from Ukraine.

The tensions have prompted Ukraine to change its plans for Sea Breeze, moving the land-based portion of the exercise off Crimea.

Changes have been made in the Crimean landing as well. For instance, instead of charging ashore from landing boats, some 150 Marines will be carried in on a barge in what officials call an ``administrative offload.''

Also, the theme of the exercise is one intended to evoke peace rather than war -- a disaster relief mission to help the civilian population after a devastating earthquake.

That's a far cry from an earlier scenario that would have had American troops landing on Crimea to intervene in unrest by an ethnic group aided by a neighboring state.

It was that blueprint -- a thinly-veiled allusion to ethnic Russian separatists aided by Russia -- that first hit raw nerves on Crimea and in Moscow last winter.

Despite the changes, Russian nationalists have denounced Sea Breeze as everything from an American show of military might aimed at the Kremlin to a plot to ruin the vacation season at Crimean beach resorts.

In addition to Ukraine and the United States, other countries -- including Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia -- will take part. Russia has turned down repeated offers to join in, but has decided to send observers.

To counter Sea Breeze and retain a balance between ties to Russia and the West, Ukraine is planning exercises with the Crimean-based Russian Black Sea Fleet this fall.

In those exercises, the two Slavic countries are slated to simulate the defense of Crimea against an invasion from the sea.

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Johnson's Russia List

#1141

24 August 1997

djohnson@cdi.org