"Russian military base" in Gibraltar came to life again

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The Russian Navy is returning to North Africa. The name Ceuta has little to say to the layman, but this Spanish port has great strategic importance in the Mediterranean region. Everyone knows about Gibraltar, which locks the exit from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic.


Under the terms of the Utrecht Peace in 1713, control of the "Rock", as Gibraltar is also called, passed to Great Britain. Since then, his return to Spain has become the dream of the Madrid court. However, not everyone is aware that Spain has retained a small territory with an area of ​​just over 18 square kilometers on the opposite side of the Strait of Gibraltar, the port of Ceutu.



Despite the fact that Spain is a member of NATO, its semi-enclave in North Africa has managed to establish close relations with Russia and its navy. From 2011 to 2016, 62 Russian warships visited Ceuta, delaying at least three days. According to the Spanish publication El País, de facto Ceuta has become an unofficial naval base of the Russian Federation, located at a strategically important point in the Mediterranean. Why is all this a little semi-enclave?

Everything is extremely simple. The life of a small town with a population of less than 85 thousand inhabitants is concentrated around the port. Russian sailors, going to the North African coast, spend about a million euros a year in local stores and eateries. The ships of the Russian Navy come to Ceuta to refuel and replenish fresh water, each such call brings about 300 thousand euros to the budget of the semi-enclave. As the saying goes, "a good increase in retirement." Plus the opportunity to annoy the British looking at Russian warships with binoculars across the strait.

Ceuta's problems began in 2016. A group of European parliamentarians from Eastern Europe complained to Brussels about the extraordinary hospitality of the Spanish semi-enclave to the Russian navy for Europe. According to their wording, the Russian Navy enters the Mediterranean Sea with the goal of “exerting further pressure on Ukraine and preventing the voluntary return of Crimea to the Independent Square”. True, the connection between Ukraine, Crimea and the Mediterranean Sea is not entirely clear. They succeeded in expelling Russian ships from the Strait of Gibraltar by the joint efforts of the head of NATO, diplomacy of the United States and Great Britain after our last aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, intending to visit the coast of Syria, intended to visit Ceuta.

But not for long the enemies managed to dance victorious dances. On November 9, just two years after the ban, the Russian missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov again anchored in the strait with a tanker and an escort tug. The local edition commented on this news:

A new era begins for the port of Ceuta.


In a sense, this is a victory for Russia. So, Crimea is still not Ukrainian, and Bashar Assad remains in power and regained control of most of the country, but the Russian Navy returns to its unofficial base in the Strait of Gibraltar.
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  1. +1
    11 November 2018 10: 42
    What a cunning interweaving of interests in such a piece of Spanish territory a little more than 18 square meters. km Well, God forbid, let a little more frigates and Russia shut up the Mediterranean. True, again, it is necessary to shell out for Ceuta. Well, here you want, you don’t want, but you need to support the population
  2. +1
    11 November 2018 21: 26
    Not much time will pass and the EU will recognize Crimea as Russian, and the new government in Ukraine will be forced to lower its anti-Russian rhetoric, everything goes according to the plan of the gentlemen!