ST.PETERSBURG (Sputnik) – The repair of the Russian Navy's Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier is set to start in 2018 and will take at least two years to finish, a source from Russia's defense industry told Sputnik Saturday.
"The decision on aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov has been made, we will repair it at our 35th shipbuilding plant in Murmansk. The aircraft carrier will already be there at the beginning of next year," the source said.
"We will try to do everything possible to complete the repairs in two years," the source said.
The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, was commissioned in 1990 and has not undergone any major overhauls following a two-year refit between 1996 and 1998.
Russia's naval group, consisting of the Admiral Kuznetsov, the Pyotr Veliky battle cruiser, the Severomorsk and the Admiral Kulakov anti-submarine destroyer, and support vessels, left for Syria in October 2016 to participate in counter-terrorism operations.
The group returned to Russia in February this year on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which came after a new ceasefire was announced in Syria in December 2016.
