Following redeployment of the main forces of russia’s Black Sea Fleet from occupied Sevastopol to Feodosia and Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar Territory, the russian federation is already beginning to think about where to relocate its ships even further.
In particular, the Kremlin decided to expand the naval base in Ochamchire in occupied Abkhazia. This was announced by the self-proclaimed head of the republic occupied by the russians, Aslan Bzhania. According to him, the "agreement" on the creation of of russia’s Black Sea Fleet base was signed last week.
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At the same time, the base in Ochamchire itself has been used on a permanent basis by the Coast Guard of the Border Service the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the russian federation since 2009. That is, we are talking about the intention to increase the base itself and organize the permanent basing of warships of the Black Sea Fleet there, but not small patrol boats of the border service.
Ochamchire is located 360 km southeast of Novorossiysk, and despite the rather long occupation of Abkhazia and the existence of a russian base there, Moscow never, at least officially, talked about plans to turn it into something more than a base for border boats, especially considering its size of 200 for 200 meters.
This base was also used during the times of the USSR, because after all, it is located only 140 km from the NATO country of Turkey. If Ochamchire was considered as a base for the fleet, it was nothing more than a reserve for the temporary placement of a small number of ships.
The russian federation also used this base and even reconstructed it. During its reconstruction in 2009, it was declared possible to provide a base for receiving ships with a displacement of up to 10,000 tons, and a fairway depth of 9 meters. Although this was also due to the fact that the bay also has a cargo coal terminal. According to available information, under the control of the FSB it is actively used as a smuggling node. And in 2015, the export of coal from occupied Donbas through this port was recorded.
That is, the parameters of the base in Ochamchire already allowed to receive any warship of the Black Sea Fleet of the russian federation, because the largest of those that remained, project 11356R, have a full displacement of 4,035 tons. But now they have to build a permanent base of the Black Sea Fleet of the russian federation there.
In any case, this is a rather long and expensive project. For example, in 2018, the russian federation announced the creation of a new base for the Caspian Flotilla in Kaspiysk (Dagestan). And it was planned to spend 459 million rubles (about 8 million dollars at that time) only on design and research works (measurements, documentation and examinations), which was estimated to be only 3-4% of the costs.
Despite the fact that already existing infrastructure was used for this, the relocation of the flotilla, which was previously located in Astrakhan, took place only in 2021.
One of few explanations for such plans is the Kremlin's understanding of the future configuration of its forces in the Black Sea, when after the deoccupation of Crimea, the main bay of what will remain of the Black Sea Fleet of the russian Federation in Novorossiysk will be only 120 km from Ukraine and it would be deadly dengerose for it.
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