Talks on cruiser Ukraina are in progress, Russians want to inspect her bottom – Yezhel

18.11.2010 So far, Russia has not made definitive decision whether to buy cruiser Ukraina, said Ukrainian defense minister Mikhail Yezhel.

"Speaking of cruiser Ukraina, the talks are in progress", said the minister in the interview to Interfax-Ukraine.

He pointed out that Russian partners did want to purchase the cruiser, but they are about to inspect the ship and assess her status prior to making the definitive decision. "Russian specialists are interested in what conditions the ship's bottom is, so they want to inspect it. Thus, we need to settle huge amount of issues before the decision is made", concluded Yezhel.

The minister did not answer the question about the cruiser's price, having referred to commercial secret.

Missile cruiser Ukraina [renamed in 1998, previous name was Admiral Flota Lobov] was laid down at 61 Communards Shipyard (Nikolayev, Ukraine) in 1984 under Soviet Navy's order and was to become the fourth Project 1164 Atlant ship. The cruiser was launched in 1990; in 1996 the fitting works were suspended due to lack of financing. In 2000-2001 it was planned to commission the ship into the national navy, but then it was said there was no point to use ships of this class in Ukrainian Navy. Presently, Ukraina is still on the shipyard's balance. According to official reports, annual expenses for the cruiser's servicing make UAH 5 mln. Russia, India, and China were regarded as potential customers.