MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti)
therefore less vulnerable, and that it would be able to defend maritime approaches to Abkhazia.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly stated that Moscow plans to monitor navigation in the Black Sea"s neutral waters in order to shield Abkhazia from hypothetical Georgian aggression, and that ships of the Federal Security Service"s Maritime Guard in the Black Sea were ready to escort Abkhazian cargo ships in neutral waters.
Paata Davitaya, deputy speaker of the Georgian parliament, said operations of Russian ships near Abkhazia are illegal, and that Moscow is allegedly planning a submarine base in Ochamchira.
"That would be nice because Russia now has only one diesel-powered submarine in the Black Sea. New submarines are only expected to arrive in the next 5-6 years because Russia is facing an economic crisis and because our leaders still cannot find allocations for their construction," Admiral Komoyedov said.
Vremya Novostei, Izvestia