We Will Reach them Everywhere – Zelensky on Russian Fleet Base in Ochamchire

Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine’s goal is the complete de-occupation of Ukrainian lands, including Crimea. According to him, Ukraine does not yet have full fire control over the occupied Crimea, but that is only a matter of time.

According to Borys Babin, a specialist in international law and a former representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea,

If the ships of the aggressor country are stationed in Ochamchire and Ukraine attacks them, this will not be an act of aggression against Georgia, seeing as Georgia does not control this territory.

According to Badri Japaridze, one of the leaders of the Lelo party, by building a permanent naval base in Ochamchire, Russia is trying to move the front line and military operations to Abkhazia.

‘‘This base will be used to shelter the Russian military and naval forces, which are currently under attack in the ports of Sevastopol and Novorossiysk. These ships carry cruise missiles, which are used to target the civilian population of Ukraine every day, making them legitimate targets for Ukrainian military forces. We call on our fellow citizens in Abkhazia to stand up to this attempt, as it poses a great threat to their security and the citizens of Georgia as a whole. This confirms once again that if anyone poses a threat to peace in this region, it is the Russian Federation, its political leadership, and its acts and plans of aggression’’, said Badri Japaridze.

The de facto president of occupied Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in an interview with Russian Izvestia on October 5 that they signed an agreement and in the near future, a permanent base of the Russian Navy will be established in the Ochamchire region.

The head of the State Security Service of Georgia, Grigol Liluashvili, told media on October 19, after presenting the SSSG annual report to the parliament, that it will take at least three years to create the Russian Navy base in Ochamchire.

‘‘Regarding the port in Ochamchire, who in Georgia would be pleased with the announcement of another outpost by the occupying forces? The infrastructure of the so-called port of Ochamchire, in its current form, serving watercraft, barges, seiners, patrol boats, etc. was built between 2009 and 2011, after the 2008 occupation created a strongly hostile and damaging environment in the temporarily occupied territories.

The existing infrastructure cannot accommodate large ships like submarines and military frigates. According to experts, transforming the existing infrastructure will take at least three years.

He also addressed the possible threat posed by the placement of the Russian military-naval base in Ochamchire to the under-construction port of Anaklia. The Russian regular army is stationed just a few kilometers from the port of Anaklia, with several thousand armed soldiers and heavy equipment. If the occupation continues, this will keep posing a threat to Georgia, including the port of Anaklia’’, said the head of SSSG.

A small trading port in Ochamchire was built in 1933-35 and operated for only 5 years. Several boats of the Russian Coast Guard were stationed in the port until 1998, and in the early 2000s, a motorized rifle battalion of the Abkhazian separatist army was stationed. After the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, in October 2009, with technical assistance from Russia, the water depth was increased from 3.8 meters to 9 meters. The increase in water depth continued in the following years. Now water vessels up to 13,000 tons can enter the port. Since 2009, the coast guard boats of the Border Service of the FSB of Russia have been stationed in the port of Ochamchire. There are three berths in the port.