Russian shipbuilding and ship-repair facilities will be constructed on the Black Sea coast, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on January 18 at the conference on the development of Russia’s shipbuilding capability in the Black Sea region.
As Dmitry Rogozin noticed, it’s important to immediately start the construction of facilities that would ensure proper maintenance of the Black Sea Fleet and the defense of our southern borders. He added also that efforts should be focused on facilities in Novorossiysk, Sochi and other ports along the Russian Black Sea coast.
Most of the shipbuilding industry is currently concentrated in northern Russia and in Russia’s Far East, which makes the maintenance of the ships based on the Black Sea, especially the warships of the Black Sea Fleet, a difficult task. “The situation is unbearable,” Rogozin, who oversees the Russian defense industry, said.
The bulk of the Russian Black Sea Fleet is stationed at the port of Sevastopol in Crimea under a lease agreement with Ukraine. Moscow and Kiev signed the so-called Kharkiv Agreements on April 21, 2010, extending the fleet’s lease on the base for another 25 years after the current lease expires in 2017.
However, Russia desperately needs a reliable network of shipbuilding and ship-repair facilities in the region, as the Black Sea Fleet is expected to receive a total of 15 new frigates and diesel-electric submarines by 2020.
[mappress] Source: Russian Navy, January 22, 2013; Image: meta