MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) – Twenty SU-27 fighter jets are to be relocated to Belbek airbase in Crimea by the end of 2014, a source at the Russian Ministry of Defense told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“By the end of the year about twenty SU-27 fighter jets will be based at Belbek airbase serving the Russian air defense unit,” said the source.
Earlier, more than 50 aircraft were based at Belbek, including MIG-29 Ukrainian Air Force fighter jets. Currently, the process of transferring the fighters to Ukraine is near its completion.
According to the source, Russian pilots are to fly these planes, while pilots who quit the Ukrainian army are being trained as well. “The training will take half a year,” said the source.