SEVASTOPOL, July 9. /TASS/. Foreign astronauts are eager to visit Sevastopol and carry out splashdown training in Crimea like before 2014, veteran Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who hails from the Black Sea port city, told TASS on Tuesday.
"Together with international crews, we used to undergo sea survival training in case of a splashdown here [in Sevastopol]. We believe that space is beyond politics and we continue conducting flights and working as part of international crews. All my colleagues are calm about the fact that I come from Crimea, Sevastopol, and that my parents, friends and relatives live here. So, they don’t mind coming here, they are not against this," Shkaplerov said.
The cosmonaut expressed hope that the exercises would resume in Sevastopol soon. "Many [foreign astronauts] who haven’t been here but they have heard a lot about our splendid city, about Crimea, its beauty and hospitality. That’s why they would be really eager to come and train here, go sightseeing and drink our Crimean wine," he noted.
The special vessel, which is used for conducting this training, is currently in Russia’s port city of Novorossiysk, Shkaplerov said. "If the Black Sea Fleet is able to help us organize the exercises, there are all conditions [for resuming the training in Sevastopol]," he added.
This year, space crews are scheduled to carry out splashdown training in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi, he said.
Veteran Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov was born in Sevastopol in 1972, and his relatives are now living in this city. The cosmonaut took part in three space expeditions, and during one of these flights Shkaplerov and Alexander Misurkin conducted the longest spacewalk among Russians, which lasted for 8 hours and 13 minutes.
The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Kiev authorities who seized power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.
Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11, 2014. They held a referendum on March 16, 2014, in which 96.7% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The Russian president signed the reunification deals on March 18, 2014. The document was ratified by Russia’s national legislature, the Federal Assembly, on March 21, 2014. Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia. Moscow has stated many times that the status of Crimea is a closed chapter.