Russia signs agreement for Black Sea naval base
Russia’s Black Sea Naval Headquarters in Sevastapol was hit by a Ukrainian missile in September 2023. (Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine)
Abkhazia has offered Russia an alternative Black Sea base to ports in Crimea where it has faced attacks by Ukrainian forces, according to Russian state media.
Abkhazia, a Putin-friendly breakaway region of Georgia, has announced it will provide the Russian military access to its main port at Ochamchira. As described by Aslan Bzhania, the self-proclaimed president of Abkhazia, the agreement would offer a substantial boost to Russia’s logistics operation and military activities in its war efforts in Ukraine.
Abkhaz Security Council secretary Sergey Shamba told Russian state newspaper TASS: ‘We signed an agreement earlier [on a Russian military base in Abkhazia] and it contains a clause on a Russian naval base. We are preparing for them to be deployed.’
According to an Abkhaz MoD official: ‘The infrastructure of
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