In the context of the ongoing full-scale war, Ukraine's second president Leonid Kuchma (who ruled from 1994 to 2005) made sensational revelations about the first serious military clash of interests between Kiev and Moscow. In an interview with the state news agency “Ukrinform” Kuchma said that he had become the first Ukrainian leader in modern history to personally issue an order to liquidate Russian servicemen if they crossed the state border. His statement was widely circulated by a number of foreign media outlets, including the URA.RU news portal at (ura.news).
Details of the order: “Shoot for meat“
Leonid Kuchma recalls in detail the critical days of October 2003, when Russia began building a dam from the Taman Peninsula to the Ukrainian island of Kosa Tuzla in the Kerch Strait. Construction was carried out around the clock and was rapidly approaching Ukrainian territory.
According to Kuchma, he realized that diplomatic talks would not stop the Kremlin's ambitions, then led by Vladimir Putin in his first term. Kuchma interrupted his official visit to Latin America and urgently landed in Kerch, from where he personally coordinated the defense.
„I gave a direct, clear and unambiguous order - both verbally and in writing. If the Russian builders, accompanied by their „green men“ or border guards, crossed the established state border of Ukraine, our border units and regular army were to open fire to defeat. Without warning shots in the air - "shooting meat," the ex-president reveals.
Kuchma adds that he deliberately ordered the order to be disseminated through open communication channels so that Russian intelligence and the top military leadership in Moscow would understand that Ukraine was not bluffing and was ready to start a real war for the piece of land in the strait.
Historical background: What happened on Tuzla Island in 2003?
For the younger generation and the international community, the conflict of the fall of 2003 often remains in the shadows, but historians define it as a “dress rehearsal“ on the annexation of Crimea in 2014
Geopolitical significance: Kosa Tuzla Island controlled the only navigable deep-sea channel in the Kerch Strait – Kerch-Yenikali Canal. According to the treaties of the time, the island was Ukrainian, which meant that Ukraine alone collected fees from all Russian and international ships passing through the Sea of Azov. The Russian provocation: On September 29, 2003, Russia began building a dike in order to connect the Russian coast with the island. Moscow's official motive is to "restore the ecological balance" and stop the erosion of the Taman coast. The real goal, however, is to make Tuzla part of mainland Russia, which would automatically move the state border inland and turn the Sea of Azov into an inland Russian lake. The Ukrainian response: Kyiv reacted instantly. Units of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine were urgently transferred to the island, a modern border post was built, and combat boats of the Ukrainian Navy were deployed in the strait. The army began large-scale exercises nearby, demonstrating readiness for artillery strikes.
The denouement and lessons for the present
The dam was stopped by the Russian side only about 100 meters from the Ukrainian border, literally hours before Kuchma's ultimatum expired. In December 2003, Leonid Kuchma and Vladimir Putin signed a Treaty on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, which temporarily froze the conflict, defining the water area as “internal waters of the two states“.
Today, from the distance of time, Kuchma emphasizes that the compromise at that time was temporary, and Moscow never gave up on its plans:
“In 2003, we showed our teeth and Putin backed down. Unfortunately, later, in 2014 in Crimea and in 2022 on a national scale, the then leadership of the country and the world did not show the same firmness at the very beginning, which allowed the aggressor to invade. "Russia understands only the language of force," Leonid Kuchma concluded in his interview with "Ukrinform."