MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia"s...
"The fleet should not have a single base [in Sevastopol] because it would be a mistake to put all our eggs in one basket," Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev said in an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio station.
Russia"s Black Sea Fleet uses a range of naval facilities in Ukraine"s Crimea, including the main base in Sevastopol, as part of a 1997 agreement, under which Ukraine agreed to lease the bases to Russia until 2017.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko announced last summer that Ukraine would not extend the lease of the Sevastopol base beyond 2017, and urged the Russian fleet to start preparations for a withdrawal.
Burtsev said regardless of the outcome of the talks on the extension of the 1997 agreement on Russian naval facilities in Ukraine Russia will continue the development of infrastructure in Novorossiisk.
"We have no other option but to develop the infrastructure at the base in Novorossiisk," he said.