Admiral Kuznetsov is Russia's only aircraft carrier and now the state shipbuilding corporation has announced that the vessel could soon be scrapped or sold.
Why is Russia scrapping its only aircraft carrier?
Commissioned in 1985, Admiral Kuznetsov from the twilight years of the erstwhile Soviet Union has been out of service since 2017. Hence, it did not see any action in the Ukraine war.
Andrey Leonidovich Kostin, the chairman of the United Shipbuilding Corporation's Board of Directors, said a final decision had not been reached. However, he said there is no point in repairing the aircraft carrier anymore.
"It is over 40-years old, and it is extremely expensive ... I think the issue will be resolved in such a way that it will either be sold or disposed of," Kostin was quoted as saying by Kommersant newspaper.
Russia's sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, set itself on fire while off the coast of Turkey a few years ago. The cause was later determined to be an electrical fault as a result of poor maintenance standards. pic.twitter.com/IVPUsjVVHh
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) January 6, 2019
Though Admiral Kuznetsov had been undergoing modernisation in the Murmansk area close to Russia's Northern Fleet, it has been facing continuous accidents and setbacks. A recent report in the Izvestia newspaper revealed that the vessel is no longer receiving refit and maintenance work.
It last saw major military action during Russia's campaign in Syria to support then-President Bashar al-Assad. The war planes from the carrier were used to carry out airstrikes on rebel forces and the Islamic State.
In 2017, then British Secretary of Defence Micharl Fallon labelled Admiral Kuznetsov as "the ship of shame" after the vessel sailed near the English coastline.
