Russia Denies Report Of Naval Base Negotiations

     From Defense News:

MOSCOW — The Russian defence ministry on July 27 denied it was holding negotiations about opening military installations in Cuba, Vietnam and the Seychelles, dismissing as “fantasy” media reports saying as much.

The denial came after Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency quoted Vice Adm. Viktor Chirkov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, as saying Russia was working on the deployment of overseas naval bases.

But late July 27, the Defence Ministry said in a statement that Chirkov made no official declaration on the subject.

“Questions concerning relations between nations are not within the jurisdiction of the Russian naval command so should not be presented to the media in that way,” the ministry said. “The appearance of such information in the media is merely the fantasy of (the media) which has opted for sensation over professional ethics.”

     I think there are two possibilities here, 1) a certain admiral got too big for his britches, and ran his mouth off on something classified, or 2) Chirkov was just trying to get media attention, and was lying. 

Russia In Negotiations For A Naval Base In Cuba Or Vietnam

     From Rueters:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia hopes to establish its first naval base abroad since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and is looking at Cuba, Vietnam and the Seychelles as possible locations, state-runRIA news agency quoted the navy chief as saying on Friday.

Russia has been increasing the reach of its navy in recent years, sending warships further afield as part of an effort to restore pride project power in a world dominated by the U.S. military.

"It's true that we are continuing work on providing the navy with basing outside the Russian Federation," RIA quoted Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov as saying in an interview.

The Soviet Union had a large naval base in Communist ally Vietnam but post-Soviet Russia opted to vacate the Cam Ranh base in 2002, during President Vladimir Putin's first Kremlin term, because rent payments were a burden on state coffers.

The fate of Russia's only naval facility outside the former Soviet Union, a maintenance and supply facility in the Syrian port of Tartous, is uncertain because of the conflict in Syria.

Chirkov said Russia was "working out the issue of creating sites for material and technical support on the territory of Cuba, the Seychelles and Vietnam," RIA reported.

     Currently, the Russian Navy is rusting away, as most of their ships date from the days of the Soviet Union. The only real problem I can see with Russia establishing a naval base in Cuba is if they base nuclear weapons there. As to Vietnam and the Seychelles, not to big of an issue there.