Russian black sea fleet will not transfer to Abkhazia

The Russian black sea fleets' ranking spokesman stated on July 25 that the issue of transferring from Sevastopol to Ochamchire is currently suspended. The main reason for this is the fact that Ochamchire bay is very small and shallow. According to the same source there is currently a Russian division of coast guard boats deployed there.

The source stated that the Black sea fleet is presently based in Sevastopol (Ukraine), Novorossiysk (Russia) and Tartus (Syria). In the latter port there are Russian navy vessels from different fleets rather than just the Black sea.

Some analysts think that such decision was taken by the Russian military because Ukraine has allowed Russia to keep their fleet in Sevastopol up to 2042; therefore the necessity to remove it from Sevastopol gone. In April 2009 Moscow and the puppet regime in Sokhumi concluded an agreement on the joint protection of so called borders; altogether 350 km of which 215km is coastline, 98km is land borders and 39 km river borders.