Russia to Deploy a Naval Base in Abkhazia

Russia plans to establish a naval base on the Black Sea coast of unrecognized Abkhazia. It was announced by the leader of the unrecognized region Aslan Bzhania to the Izvestiya newspaper a day after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bzhania said that they had concluded an agreement on a permanent naval base in the Ochamchira district. “We signed an agreement and in the near future there will be a permanent Russian Navy base in the Ochamchira district,” he said. “It aims at increasing the defense capability level of both Russia and Abkhazia, and such interaction will continue,” Bzhania added, noting, “there are things he cannot talk about.” Bzhania also said that Georgia’s current leaders “are pragmatic people”. Earlier, British intelligence reported that after the latest series of successful Ukrainian strikes, the Russian Black Sea Fleet would not be able to have the same control in the Black Sea as before. The UK Ministry of Defence believes that Ukrainian forces actually managed to defeat the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.