NOVOROSSIYSK, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Russian government on Tuesday to protect Crimean shipbuilding from possible harmful actions from abroad.
"Do not expose them [Crimean shipbuilding facilities] to the danger of our partners' unlawful actions of any kind. We will easily incorporate them in our shipbuilding and ship-repairing and will run them at full capacity," Putin said at a meeting on the development of Azov and Black Sea ports.
Crimea has several large commercial ports in the cities of Kerch, Yevpatoria and Yalta and also a major Russian Navy base in Sevastopol.
The peninsula broke away from Kiev to become part of Russia after the March 16 referendum. The vote has been branded as illegal by the West and was followed by several waves of anti-Russian economic sanctions.
