Russian Navy will stay in Sevastopol forever – admiral

Russia will never give up its naval base in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula, ex-commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Adm. Igor Kasatonov said.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet is stationed in Crimea under a lease agreement with Ukraine. On April 21, 2010, Moscow and Kiev signed a deal extending the lease on the fleet's base in Sevastopol for 25 years after the current lease expires in 2017.

"The year 2042 is not the final date of the Black Sea Fleet's presence in Crimea. The Russian Navy will stay in Sevastopol forever," Kasatonov said in a recent interview with the Kiev-based Expert magazine.

Sevastopol is perfect for military tourism - opinion

One can effectively develop military tourism in Sevastopol, says director of public organization "Sevastopol Foundation" Mikhail Yurlov. 

In particular, naval base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet can be used for development of this kind of tourism. "On the one hand, Black Sea Fleet frightens, on the other hand - it attracts. So-called military tourism is also an interesting thing. Curiously, people do want to see submarines and warships based in Sevastopol", he said. 

In 1991 there were 1,000 floating crafts in the city, beginning from aircraft carriers and ending with minesweepers, but now they are only 50, added M. Yurlov. "We can't say that today's Sevastopol is a large naval base. But all service areas formerly used for Navy's needs remain. With all appropriate infrastructure and supplied with gas, water, oils, quays and so forth", he said.