The Sevastopol State Aquarium in the Crimea, where the unique combat dolphins and seals are training, has been fully reassigned to the Russian Defense Ministry, Sergey Menyailo, acting governor of the city of Sevastopol, said.
The Crimean military dolphins belonged to Ukraine since the fall
of the USSR up to March 2014, when the peninsula voted in a
referendum to join the Russian Federation.
“The jurisdiction over this facility [Sevastopol State
Oceanarium] has been fully transferred to the Russian Defense
Ministry,” Menyailo said in an interview with RIA-Novosti
news agency.
The acting governor added that four dolphins from the oceanarium
have been relocated to the Crimean dolphin therapy centers to
help treat such serious children’s diseases as “cerebral
palsy, mental disorders and psychological stress.”
According to RIA-Novosti, 13 bottlenose dolphins are currently
involved in the military program at the base.
The combat training of the sea mammals at the Crimean peninsula
began in the 1960s, but was halted for over two decades under
Ukrainian rule and only resumed in 2012.
The Soviet Navy used dolphins and seals to patrol the area,
rescue lost naval swimmers or locate underwater mines. Some of
the animals were even capable to seek and destroy missions
against enemy submarines, using kamikaze methods.
Russia’s Sevastopol and the US city of San Diego host the world’s
only military dolphin training facilities.
Menyailo also claimed that the Russian Defense Ministry has
already deployed Su-30 fighter jets at Belbek air base near
Sevastopol.
The acting governor didn’t specify the number of Su-30 jets, but
an unnamed official told RIA-Novosti that up to 20 warplanes have
arrived.
According to the official, the Defense Ministry plans to deploy
military aircraft at four airfields in the Crimea, including
Belbek.
However, there’s been no official confirmation of this information from the Defense Ministry.
The Russian authorities plan to use Belbek as a joint airfield
for both military and civilian purposes, including international
flights.
Menyailo reminded that the airfield network in the Crimea was
highly developed in the Soviet era, but “during the period of
time spent as a part of Ukraine, it was abandoned.”
Crimea cut ties with Ukraine and reunited with Russia on March 16
as its Russian-speaking population refused to recognize the new
coup-imposed authorities in Kiev.
The move was preceded by a referendum, in which the reunification
with Moscow was backed by over 96 percent of voters.