Sukhumi announced abandoning plans to build a Russian naval base in Ochamchire. According to Sergey Shamba, the foreign minister of the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia, Russian border boats are already stationed there.
“A Russian naval base is not planned in Ochamchire. There is a border point where border guard boats are stationed,” Shamba said. Since 2009, the port of Ochamchire has been under direct Russian control after the Kremlin signed cooperation agreements on border protection with the de facto leadership of the occupied regions. Since then, the brigade of patrol vessels of the Border Service of the Russian Federation has been operating in Ochamchire.
In the fall of 2023, the leader of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, announced the signing of an agreement with the Kremlin on a permanent naval base in Ochamchire. In January 2024, Shamba, while serving as the Secretary of the Security Council of Abkhazia, announced that by the end of the year, it is planned to open a permanent Russian naval base in Ochamchire Bay. After Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, dredging and construction works were carried out in the port.
