First stage facilities of the Novorossiysk naval base will be completed in 2013

This information has been announced by the Ministry of Defense.

The facilities are intended for large low draft naval vessels. The Ministry notes that this will allow the commencement of the Black Sea fleet relocation from the Crimea to Novorossiysk.

The flagship of the fleet – Guards missile cruiser «Moscow» – will be the first to enter the base. A new «Novorossiysk» submarine and the first patrol ship «Admiral Grigorovich» will arrive in 2013. By the end of 2016 the Black Sea fleet will get five patrol ships and five submarines more.

Novorossiysk will host new «636» design submarines of the Black Sea fleet.

By 2014 all Black Sea fleet forces may be relocated to Novorossiysk.

It has been earlier informed that the Black Sea fleet base in Novorossiysk will be completed by 2020.

In January 2010 Novorossiysk authorities announced an appeal not to relocate the Black Sea fleet naval base. They declared that the fleet base currently under construction in the hero city would not be able to replace the infrastructure of the two-centenary base in Sevastopol.

English translation by BSN
Adapted from Live Kuban