I’m more interested in what the Russians hope to gain from this. They’re paying exhorbitant amounts of money to maintain a fleet they can’t afford. Most of the Black Sea Fleet’s ships will be retiring in the coming decade and the construction rate for new vessels is hardly enough to replace them, even if we disregard the other fleets. In my opinion the Russian Navy should have taken this opportunity to cut their losses and downsize by retiring the Black Sea Fleet by 2017(when the ships themselves retire).

The Black Sea Fleet isn’t going anywhere soon for several reasons.

– First and foremost for historical / nationalist reasons
– Economic reasons (current and planned Oil and Gas pipelines in the area)
– Proximity and access to the Mediterranean
– Presence in the Ukraine and proximity to the Caucasus and Balkans (areas of interest for Russia)