According to the former head of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Adm. Igor Kasatonov, Novorossiysk naval base will have been constructed by the end of 2020.
Photo: Sputnik / V. Kiselev
According to the former head of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Adm. Igor Kasatonov, Russia will finish the construction of the naval base in Novorossiysk, located at the country’s Black Sea coast, by 2020.
“It is difficult to announce the final terms of the base construction yet, but we will certainly finish it by 2020,” Igor Kasatonov, who also is the former first deputy commander of Russia’s Navy, told RIA Novosti news agency.
According to the admiral, the construction of the base’s western breakwater, which was important to protect ships from stormy weather, is going to be finished in 2016.
Kasatonov also noted that there should be several stationing sites for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, including in Novorossiysk and in Sevastopol.
The collapse of the Soviet Union left main naval bases of the Black Sea Fleet outside the Russian Federation. Within the framework of the agreements with Kiev, then-Ukrainian Crimea was a place of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet’s location. In 2005, construction of the Novorossiysk naval base was initiated by Russian authorities in order to create necessary infrastructure for the fleet in the country’s Black Sea coast.
