Russia confirmed the fire aboard its only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov

Russian emergency services confirmed this Thursday Fire on the aircraft carrier Admiral KuznetsovAnchored in a port in the city of Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula in the country’s extreme northwest.

As sources from emergency services told the news agency TossNone of the fire victims died, although about twenty people had to be evacuated.

This is what the Russian media reported The fire spread to twenty feet of the open areaThe crew rushed to extinguish it.

United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the company responsible for repairing the ship, confirmed that the flames that had started in the port rooms had already been extinguished. “The damage control system worked quickly — there was no damage,” the USC president said. Alexey Rajmanov.

He also told RIA Novosti that the fire broke out during the repair work.

“Admiral Kuznetsov” was towed to the Svyostochka shipyard in Severodvinsk, nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) north of Moscow. Repair and modernization work on the ship began last May and June.

It is estimated that the work will not be completed until 2024, when the ship, built in 1985, will be nearly 40 years old.

The ship can carry up to 28 fighter jets and 17 helicopters. They include Su-33 and MiG-29 jets, as well as Ka-52K and Ka-27 attack helicopters. It also carries the deadly P-700 Granit missiles.

According to the German agency, the boat had already caught fire in 2019, resulting in the death of two people and the injury of another 14. DPA.

The ship, which has been involved in Putin’s attacks on Syria since 2017, has undergone massive repairs.

Severodvinsk, where the ship is being repaired, is in the remote and inhospitable north of Russia. Access to the city of about 180,000 is restricted to foreigners, and a special pass is required to visit.

In August 2019, a nuclear accident occurred at the nearby Russian Naval Central Missile Range.

It is the latest mysterious fire to affect key war-related infrastructure in Russia in recent months.

“Kuznetsov’s problems reflect structural flaws in Moscow’s repair and modernization program. Also, its mid-life review talks about the inadequate infrastructure the Russian Navy has to keep its ships in service, maintain and modernize them. The loss in 2018 of the PD-50 floating dry dock – large enough to handle the largest naval ships – forced a reckoning: Moscow’s modernization program depends on infrastructure … “, he pointed out last May. In a publication of the United States Naval Institute.

As Putin tries to bolster his military strategy in Ukraine, he is looking to put the old warship back in the water.

(with information from Europa Press)

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