Nikolai Patrushev, a key adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said the Russian Navy is entering a new stage of development.
"A new stage of the development of the [Russian] Navy is actually beginning," presidential aide Patrushev, who oversees national maritime policy issues, said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Patrushev is known for advocating the Kremlin's hard-line policies and has given several interviews with Russian newspapers justifying Putin's decision to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Patrushev, who worked with Putin at the KGB in St. Petersburg, has been touted as the most likely candidate to succeed the Russian president.
"The state needs to ensure such a quality of our fleet that will allow it to outpace the technical capabilities of other maritime countries," Patrushev said.
"As a great maritime power, Russia should possess a powerful navy comprising ships designed to accomplish missions in close-in and distant maritime and oceanic areas and have a developed system of bases and logistics support," the presidential aide added.
Viktor Yevtukhov, the deputy minister of industry and trade, said in June that the Russian Navy would receive some 50 ships and support vessels this year—up from the 32 it received last year—as part of a hastened effort to replenish losses sustained in the war.
"About 50 are planned for this year. That is, we are increasing the pace. These are not only boats, frigates, corvettes, small missile ships, there are also support vessels," Yevtukhov said.
Russia's Navy's activities in international waters have drawn increased attention in recent months. Last month, Russia deployed its nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, warships, and other naval vessels to the Caribbean Sea for planned military drills.
The Russian Navy has also suffered a number of humiliating setbacks throughout the war, including losing its flagship vessel, the Moskva, while roughly a third of Putin's prized Black Sea Fleet has been disabled by Ukrainian forces, according to Dmytro Pletenchuk, a former Ukrainian Navy spokesperson.
Russia has also relocated many of its warships from Crimea to Novorossiysk in Russia's Krasnodar region and its naval port in Feodosia further east on the annexed peninsula due to relentless Ukrainian attacks.
In another blow to Putin's navy, local media reported last week that a portion of Russia's annual naval parade in St. Petersburg—scheduled to coincide with the Day of the Russian Navy, which falls on July 28 this year—has been canceled for the first time in eight years.
This year, the main parade in Kronstadt has been canceled, while a smaller event will take place in St. Petersburg in the Neva River, newspapers Fontanka and Novye Izvestia reported. They noted that it would mark the first partial cancellation of the event since 2017.
In an intelligence assessment on Friday, the British Ministry of Defence said it marks the most high-profile event to be canceled since Russia invaded Ukraine and "highlights a growing trend that Russia is unable to guarantee the protection of its forces."
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