Experts: Russia would use the whole arsenal of weapons based in Crimea in event of full-scale war
Experts from the Ukrainian Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies stated at a press conference in Kiev that the Russian Federation has militarized the Crimea in an unprecedented fashion, and it will actively use weapons that are already based in the Crimea in the case of full-scale military actions in the territory of Ukraine.
“A very powerful group consisting of aviation and Russian Military Space Forces, cruise missile carriers, submarines and ships was gathered in the Crimea. This component is key and it certainly will be activated from the Crimea. Aviation and Strategic Missile Forces haven’t practically participated in hostilities yet. If an order for full-scale actions is given, then I’m sure that the Black Sea Fleet and all groups based in the Crimea will be actively involved,” the deputy director of the Ukrainian Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, Mikhail Samus, said.
The director of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, Valentin Badrak, noted that there hasn’t been such a level of militarization in the Crimea even in the Soviet period.
“Nowadays, there are carriers for nuclear weapons in the Crimea, which means that the Crimea has been turned into a beachhead that poses a threat primarily to the West. It makes western intervention impossible; that is the reason why the militarization of the Crimea took place. In the event of war, deployment of nuclear weapons to the Crimea will be implemented almost concurrently,” Badrak added. On August 11, the Russian Armed Forces began special, comprehensive provisional drills.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense press service, drills will be held at the sites, airfields and training facilities of the Southern Military District and in the waters of the Black Sea. On August 10, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, commenting on the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) statement about Ukraine allegedly preparing terrorist acts in the Crimea, stated that Kiev isn’t looking for paths to negotiation but is instead relying on terrorist tactics.
Putin stated that it is senseless to hold a summit in the Normandy format under such circumstances. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko called the Kremlin’s accusations about the Crimea senseless and cynical, and asked for a strengthening of military preparedness in the administrative areas bordering the annexed Crimea and along the whole demarcation line in the Donbas. The general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces denies the Russian FSB statement.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Russian statements about Kiev’s involvement in terrorism in the annexed Crimea have been strongly condemned in Ukraine as a provocation organized by the Kremlin, and all the accusations have been dismissed as senseless.