Sevastopol celebrates 231st anniversary of Black Sea Fleet

Moscow, May 13 (IANS) Russia's newly adopted federal city of Sevastopol celebrated the 231st anniversary of the founding of the Black Sea Fleet with a series of ceremonies, the Russian defence ministry said Tuesday.

"All warships of the Black Sea Fleet will be topped with flags, and crews will line decks during solemn ceremonies," Xinhua quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.

After a prayer at St. Vladimir's Cathedral, a wreath-laying ceremony will be conducted at the monument to Empress Catherine the Great, who gave the city its present name. Later in the day, a ceremony at the Admiral Nakhimov Navy Institute will also be held.

On May 9, Victory Day and the day of the liberation of Sevastopol from Nazi occupants in 1944, the city hosted a navy and air force parade attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia plans to spend more than 86 billion rubles ($2.4 billion) to strengthen its Black Sea Fleet by 2020. This year, new air defence and marine units will be formed at the fleet bases and new submarines will be deployed alongside the next-generation surface ships, according to the defence ministry.

The Admiral Grigorovich, the first of six new warships, is expected to join the fleet in 2015. Earlier Tuesday, the fleet's Commander Alexander Vitko said a Mistral-class helicopter carrier may also join the fleet.

Sevastopol became Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea in the 18th century. In 1954, the city, along with Crimean peninsula, was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic.

In a referendum held March 16, residents of the city and the Republic of Crimea voted to return to Russian jurisdiction, a move which has not been recognised by the West and Kiev.