Launched in 1985 during the final years of the Soviet Union, Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, may soon be sold or scrapped, possibly ending one of the last surviving symbols of Soviet naval power.
Nearly four decades after it was built, the ageing warship now sits idle in the Murmansk area, undergoing a long-delayed modernisation.
Andrei Kostin, the head of Russia's state shipbuilding corporation, said in comments to the Kommersant newspaper on Friday that a final decision had not been taken, but that the fate of the aircraft carrier seemed doubtful.
“We believe there is no point in repairing it 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.
This came after a report last week in the Izvestia newspaper, citing anonymous sources as saying that activity on the Admiral Kuznetsov's long-drawn-out refit and maintenance work had been halted.
Commissioned at the height of Soviet efforts to extend naval power into Western style, the Admiral Kuznetsov was a massive symbol of Soviet ambitions.
But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it continued in Russian Navy service, eventually being deployed in the Syrian civil war, where its aircraft laid bombs in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian naval officials and veterans are still at odds over how to proceed. Some said the vessel is obsolete and is no longer suited to current military requirements, but others stated that the nation still needs an aircraft carrier like the Kuznetsov or a replacement in order to maintain its blue-water naval capabilities.
In 2017, as it sailed back from its mission in the Mediterranean, the Admiral Kuznetsov sailed close to the British coast, spewing thick black smoke. Then-UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon described it then as the "ship of shame," a moniker that clung to the problematic ship.
