OREANDA-NEWS.  In the course of his meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, the President signed instructions to revive the Nakhimov Black Sea Higher Naval School and to recognise the military ranks and documents of military education of those Ukrainian service members who expressed their will to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Mr Shoigu, you have drafted a number of documents. Could you please clarify?

DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEI SHOIGU: Mr President, the Nakhimov Higher Naval School has existed in Sevastopol for many years.

At one point it was transformed. Currently we would like to ask you to sign instructions to revive the Nakhimov Higher Naval School bearing the Order of the Red Star. Considering its history and bearing in mind the fact that it trains students from many nations, we would like to continue this training without interruption and to revive the historical name of what used to be a naval Academy and is now a naval school.

Within the same document, we suggest setting up a Presidential cadet college in Crimea, specifically in Sevastopol. We ask you to support this decision. This is the first document that we would like to sign today.

The other one is a document that would recognise the military ranks and military education received by those officers who are currently serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces but have expressed their will to serve in the Russian Armed Forces, and also in other security agencies, like the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: The way I see it, this will enable you to hire these people, at least under contract, while all the other formalities, including those pertaining to their citizenship, are being taken care of.

SERGEI SHOIGU: Yes, Mr President. A large number of officers have expressed their desire to serve in the Russian army and this document is required to start this procedure.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Ok.