Russia plans naval base on Black Sea coast of breakaway Georgian region
Russia has signed a deal for a permanent naval base on the Black Sea coast of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, its leader was quoted on October 5 as saying by the Izvestiya newspaper, a day after he met President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reports.
Russia's Black Sea Fleet, based in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian forces since February 24, 2022.
Aslan Bzhania, the self-styled president of Russian-backed Abkhazia, said an agreement had been signed for a permanent naval base in the Ochamchira region.
"We have signed an agreement, and in the near future there will be a permanent base of the Russian Navy in the Ochamchira district," Bzhania told Izvestiya.
"This is all aimed at increasing the level of defence capability of both Russia and Abkhazia, and this kind of interaction will continue," he said. "There are also things I can't talk about."
Russia made no immediate comment.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, as independent states in 2008 after Russian troops repelled a Georgian attempt to retake South Ossetia in a five-day war which ended on August 12, 2008.
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