Russia is ready to rent and modernize Ukraine’s Nitka naval pilot training facilities and use it jointly with Ukraine, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Wednesday.
According to Russian estimates, the rent of the Nitka Center would cost Russia about $700,000 annually, RIA Novosti reports.
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In 2009 Russia announced plans to build a € 2.7 million training center for Airwing Kuznetsov in the Krasnodar region. The project was approved by President Dmitry Medvedev and construction was planned to start already in 2010, as BarentsObserver reported.Since then, there have been no information about the plans.
The Nitka facility was built in the Soviet era for pilots to practice their skills in taking off from and landing on an aircraft carrier’s deck. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the facility remained under Ukrainian jurisdiction. Through the years, problems with Ukrainian authorities have complicated the situation and training has repeatedly been cancelled.
The Ukrainian Navy does not have any aircraft carriers.
