Russia to reopen missile warning station on Crimea

Radar station will become fully operational in 2016, says commander Alexander Golovko


Afp October 04, 2014

MOSCOW: Russia will modernise and relaunch a Soviet-era radar station on the Crimean peninsula annexed from Ukraine to provide early warning of missile strikes, a senior defence official said Saturday.

The radar station in the port city of Sevastopol will become fully operational in 2016, the commander of the air and space defence forces, Alexander Golovko, was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

"The radar station's Dnepr warning system on air strikes, based in Sevastopol, will become part of Russia's missile warning system after modernisation, and will become operational in 2016," Golovko said.

Russia rented the Soviet-era facility from Ukraine for several years after the breakup of the USSR.

Russia is making huge investments into Crimea after annexing it in March this year in a demonstration of its intention to stay despite the annexation not being recognized internationally and the resulting sanctions from the United States and the European Union.

Russian forces will also from December 1 take over the Centre for Deep Space Communications in Yevpatoria in Crimea, which houses a giant radio telescope built in the 1970s, Golovko said.

Golovko said the Crimean installations would "make quite a weighty contribution" to Russia's space programme.

Russia plans to hike defence spending by 21.4 per cent in 2015, with Crimea one of the priorities. Russia's Black Sea naval fleet, which is based in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, is also undergoing modernisation.

COMMENTS (1)

unbelievable | 9 years ago | Reply

Russia is making huge investments into Crimea after annexing it in March this year

Annexation of Crimea might have gained Putin support at home but it was an diplomatic blunder. Crimea is an economic basket case and their people are expecting major positive changes - that's going to require massive economic investment but no foreign investor is going to invest in Crimea requiring Putin to utilize Russian money - that means reallocating money that would have been used on the home front which will have long term ramification for his support base. Russia's currency is plunging and it's largest customer is looking for alternative suppliers - doesn't bode well for chest thumping Russia.

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