Crimea has always been, will remain Russian - Shoigu
KRASNOYARSK. Aug 6 (Interfax) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has commented on a statement made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said Crimea will be Ukrainian, at a meeting with Krasnoyarsk journalists.
"You know, there's an old anecdote from Odesa: a visitor asks a question about a broken fountain on Soborna Square - was there a gushing fountain here? An Odesa resident answers - why do you say was? It was, is, and will be here," Shoigu said in response to the relevant question.
"So it is with Crimea. Leaders of Ukraine come and go, and Crimea was, is, and will remain Russian," Shoigu said.
Over recent years, the Russian Defense Ministry has markedly enhanced the contingent in Crimea, in particular, with S-400 long-range air defense missile systems, a product of the Almaz-Antey company.
The peninsula is protected by ships of the Black Sea Fleet, in addition to marine and air defense aviation. An army corps featuring coastal defense, reconnaissance, artillery, air defense, engineering, supply and logistics, radiation, chemical, and biological protection, signals and other kinds of units has been formed in Crimea. There are advanced anti-ship coastal missile systems Bal and Bastion on the peninsula, as well.
The military say that the contingent stationed in Crimea is capable of protecting it from any kinds of threats.
Earlier reports said that a Voronezh-M radar station under construction near Sevastopol as an element of the Russian missile attack warning system would be able to see the Mediterranean and the central part of the Atlantic Ocean.
