Moscow is ready to give Kiev ships and hardware which the Ukrainian military left in Crimea. This was stated yesterday by Vladimir Putin during his meeting with the heads of various Russian media and information agencies.
Let's ask our correspondent Olga Armyakova which equipment exactly. She's working in Crimea and is in direct communication with our studio.
- Hello, Olga. What kind of ships and planes is it about and what state are they in now?
- One of the best bays of Sevastopol — Streletskaya. It's here that Ukrainian ships are temporarily parked, ships of the Ukrainian navy, that is. Our film crew is now working aboard Khmelnitsky, a corvette. The Chernigov, a trawler, is on the right, and the Lutsk, another corvette, is on the left.
All these ships haven't been inhabited since March 2014, that's when their crews left them. And it's since then, Russia has been providing security for these docked ships despite the fact that Ukraine doesn't allocate any money to maintain them. We learned this from an interview with a former Navy rear admiral. Let's hear what he has to say.
Vladimir Solovyov Rear Admiral (retired):
- This is Streletskaya Bay, trawlers have been here since the Soviet times. These ships are taking up space here. Of course, they don't pay for the electricity, parking, docking, water, or anything else. And it's Russian sailors that service them. 12 people are assigned to each ship. They aren't engaged in the technical maintenance of these ships but check them to make sure that there isn't a short circuit, a water leak, or rusted out equipment. That's it. They maintain and clean them.
- And it's all at our expense?
- It is.
These ships look quite good, but it's worth saying that there haven't been any repairs for several years. That's because Russia has no right to repair these ships, we can only keep them secure.
It's worth saying that many of these ships, even before their transfer for safekeeping, were in quite a bad state. In total, there are several dozen ships and support vessels in Sevastopol, as well as ammunition that expired long ago, so it can only be reclaimed. There are also several aircraft.
Overall, it's the best place where the ships of the Black Sea Fleet could be docked, but for now, it's Ukrainian ships that are temporarily docked here. Olga?
- Thank you, that was our correspondent Olga Armyakova with the report.
The offer to return the military hardware to Ukraine is a goodwill gesture. This was stated by the presidential press secretary, Dmitry Peskov.
Dmitry Peskov: "Before the active phase of military actions in Donbass, Ukraine got some of its hardware back. Then, this process stopped because active military actions began. It started with bloodshed in Ukraine itself. Putin repeatedly emphasized Russia's interest in driving our relationship from the deadlock it found itself in and out of this hostile and miserable state t
The President also spoke of this yesterday, he said that, more than any other country, Russia is interested in the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements. The President advocates the continuation and the finalization of the POW exchange process. Let's say it's one more goodwill gesture, a demonstration of a political intention to end the deadlock of the Ukrainian settlement process".
