Russia to strengthen military capacity in Crimea: Shoygu

According to the Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Shoygu, Russia intends to strengthen its military force in Crimea.

He informed about this at the regular telephone conference with the key personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, UNIAN informs.

New units of the air defense and Marine forces are planned to be created this year at the places of fleet basing. Black Sea Fleet will receive in 2014 new submarines, surface ships of the new generation, all this demands from us sufficient attention, Shoygu stated.

He emphasized that until 2020, Black Sea Fleet will receive substantial funding – 86.7 billion rubles (about $2.5 billion).

Shoygu pointed out that “Black Sea Fleet always received necessary forces” but in connection with the latest events of “Crimea and Sevastopol annexation to the Russian Federation”, it became necessary to introduce amendments to the fleet’s development program.