Russia is the power with the most bases in other countries without their permission

@DefAviation ES 4·22·2023 · 8:50 0

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has filled the net with falsehoods spun by the Kremlin propaganda media and its supporters.

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One of those slogans consists of affirming that Russia is not an imperialist country because the United States has many more bases abroad. It is true that the United States has many military bases in other countries, but there is a radical difference between both powers: The US has its bases in countries whose governments have authorized its presence, a requirement that Russia does not meet.

It could be argued that the US fails to meet that requirement with its military base at Guantanamo, but that base is there by virtue of Cuban-American Treaty of 1903, whose validity does not recognize the communist dictatorship of Cuba, stating that it was signed under threat. Even if we admit the thesis of that dictatorship, that basis would be the only exception in the US case.

On the contrary, Russia has the following military bases in countries whose governments have not given authorization to install them:

• Gudauta, Georgia: Russia installed its 7th Military Base there in February 2009, a few months after Russia's invasion of Georgia in August 2008. The base is located in the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia strong>, a region of Georgia taken over by pro-Russian separatists and without international recognition. In this base there are some 4,500 Russian soldiers divided into several infantry battalions, a tank battalion and other support units, as well as S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missiles. This base was already used by the Russians in their operations in eastern Ukraine in 2017.
• Tskhinvali, Georgia: Like the Gudauta base, the Russian 4th Guards Military Base was installed there in February 2009 after the Russian invasion of Georgia. This base is located in the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia, another region of Georgia taken over by pro-Russian separatists and without international recognition. The base houses some 4,500 Soviet servicemen, with three infantry battalions, a tank battalion, a special forces battalion, and other units.
• Tiraspol, Moldova: This base was created in 1995 in the Transnistria region, a part of Moldova taken over by Russophone communists and self-proclaimed as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, without international recognition. The base houses some 1,500 Russian soldiers divided into three infantry battalions.
• Sevastopol, Ukraine: It has been home to a Russian naval base since the demise of the USSR. In 1997 Russia and Ukraine signed a Treaty of Partition of the former Soviet fleet whereby Ukraine agreed to lease a part of its Sevastopol base to Russia. In 2010, the openly pro-Russian President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych signed the Kharkiv Pact with Russia, which extended the lease of the Russian part of the base until 2042, in exchange for a payment of $100 million a year from Russia. to Ukraine. However, in 2014 Russia seized Crimea, where that base is located, and illegally annexed that Ukrainian region. Russia itself denounced the Kharkiv Pact on March 31, 2014, so it is no longer valid and the presence of the Russian naval base, today, is illegal.
• Belbek, Ukraine: Following the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, Sevastopol International Airport in Belbek was converted into a Russian military base.
• Novofyodorovka, Ukraine: was a naval base of the Ukrainian Navy until March 2014, when it was taken over by the Russian military.
• Djankoy, Ukraine: After the invasion of Crimea, the Russians set up a military airfield there with Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters.
• In addition to those mentioned, there are 14 other Russian military bases in Crimea, as reported by Reuters in November 2016.
• Lugansk, Ukraine: The Russians set up a military base there after the Russian-backed armed separatist uprising in Donbass, according to Ukrainian reporter Roman Burko in 2015.
• Sontsevo, Ukraine: Another base located in the Donbass region of Ukraine, in areas controlled by Russian-backed separatists. The base was discovered in June 2015.

In total there are 23 Russian bases in countries whose legitimate governments do not authorize them. This list does not include the bases established by Russia in Ukraine during the invasion.

To this we must add that, according to an Institute for New Europe report (see PDF) published in December 2020, Russia has other military bases in Armenia, Belarus, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Tajikistan and Vietnam, in addition to projecting others in Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia and the Central African Republic.

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Photo: Didor Sadulloev / Reuters.