The recent visit of the head of the military department of the Russian Federation A. Serdyukov ended with an open question about the modernization of the Black Sea Fleet. The main obstacle to resolving this issue is Ukraine's demand for a complete list of weapons that will replace the old stock of the Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine also fears that Russia will base ships in Sevastopol with elements of tactical nuclear weapons. The Russian military, in turn, are trying to defend their autonomy in the Black Sea region.
It is worth noting here that, unlike ground combat vehicles, aviation, surface ships, Ukraine has practically no data on the weapons and composition of the naval brigade.
You can understand something about the Ukrainian authorities: at first, Russia was going to update its frigates, which caused bewilderment among many, because frigates are surface ships of ocean action, and the Black Sea is too small an area for them to deploy. However, by the middle of summer, the Russian military realizes their blunder and begins to diligently prepare the modernization of the Black Sea Fleet with submarines and corvettes. It was decided to commission up to six submarines of the 636M project and up to six corvettes of the 20385 project by the end of the second decade.
By 2025, it is planned to put into operation up to 10 artillery and rocket small ships, which will amount to the number of the newest ships and vessels in the Black Sea Fleet of about 35 naval combat vehicles. It remains only to note that it is easy to determine the direction of the main tasks of the fleet by the composition of the ships, so, for example, if the main forces consist of frigates, the main task is either an attack or conducting various operations far from the base, if the main forces are corvettes, then the priority is defensive tasks.
Possible improvements in this matter also depend on the economic component, which Ukraine desperately needs. The Kharkiv economic agreements, according to which Ukraine currently pays for Russian blue gold - natural gas, made them economically unprofitable, and now Ukraine is trying to persuade the Russian leadership to additional discounts, and there is a reason for this.
The negotiation process went smoothly, so to speak - no one lost anything, however, and did not gain either. Although even if the negotiations ended with a successfully resolved issue, it is fair to say that there are not enough resources for modernization. All laid down surface ships and submarines at Russian shipyards will become operational for the Pacific and Northern Fleets, and not a single new ship for the modernization of the Black Sea Fleet exists today. And the importance of the Black Sea area cannot be compared with the oceanic expanses.
One of the points of the agreement from the Russian side could be orders for the Ukrainian shipyards for the repair of Russian ships.
Recently, six Russian ships were repaired by the Bulgarian shipyards, although the Ukrainian factories: Sevastopol, Feodosiyskiy and Nikolaevskiy could handle ship repairs. Russian officials explain their actions by the fact that Ukrainian shipyards offer repairs at exorbitant prices, which Ukraine categorically denies. This is a difficult question, although there is a high probability that political games are being played.
Today, all negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are of a political connotation. The relationship between the Slavic countries is far from the classic relationship between two democratic countries. Most likely, Ukrainian politicians are ready to resolve the issue of basing and modernizing the Black Sea Fleet in the version that Russia needs, but will require making energy concessions or economic discounts. But Russian politicians are not ready to let go of the acquired economic and diplomatic solutions. Now let's hope and wait that the issue of modernizing the Black Sea Fleet will be resolved in the near future with the benefit of both sides, after all, the military power on the Black Sea coast will benefit both countries.
More recently, Russian officials have begun talking about rebuilding the quays and naval infrastructure in Sevastopol, with great promise for future modernization. Nobody even thinks about building a military base on their own territory of the Black Sea coast, the costs of building will nullify the entire modernization program. And Russia has a reason to say so today, the President of Ukraine V. F. Yanukovych does not deny this possibility and appears to be pushing Russian officials in this direction by making cautious statements about the Black Sea Fleet.
Today, the Black Sea Fleet consists of 19 ship units, which include more than 200 ships of various classes. 80 percent of surface ships and naval equipment require various kinds of repair and modernization.
