Global Security Newswire

Russia will bolster its ocean-going atomic capabilities to uphold its status as a pre-eminent naval presence, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged on Monday (see GSN, July 26).

Bolstering the naval role of Russia's submarines and their missiles is a goal for the leader, according to Reuters; Moscow is set by 2020 to commit $621.3 billion to development of the systems.

"We believe that our country should maintain its status of one of the leading naval powers," Putin said at an event to formally initiate assembly of Prince Vladimir, Russia's fourth Borei-class ballistic missile submarine (see GSN, July 24).

"We are talking about the development of the naval part of our strategic nuclear forces, about the navy's role in maintaining the strategic nuclear parity" with the United States, he added.

Russia intends to possess eight Borei vessels before 2021, according to Putin, adding the country's sea-based military services would protect its priorities in the petroleum-heavy Arctic region.

"Obviously, the navy is an instrument to protect national economic interests, including in such regions as Arctic where some of the world's richest biological resources, mineral resources are concentrated," Putin stated.

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in recent months said the nation's initial pair of Borei vessels -- the Yuri Dolgoruky and the Alexander Nevsky -- would assume active duty in the middle of 2012 (Gleb Bryanski, Reuters, July 30).

Ocean testing of the Yuri Dolgoruky is now under way, RIA Novosti reported on Monday. The Alexander Nevsky and a third Borei ship -- the Vladimir Monomakh -- are still being built.

The Bulava ballistic missile, intended for eventual placement on the vessels, is now in late-phase preparation and scheduled for deployment before 2013 on the Yuri Dolgoruky. The weapon has had a troubled history in testing (RIA Novosti, July 30).

Meanwhile, presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has stepped back from prior remarks referring to Moscow as Washington's "No. 1 geopolitical foe," CNN reported on Monday.

"Russia is a geopolitical adversary but is not an enemy with a -- you know, with … missiles being fired at one another and things of that nature," Romney stated in an interview (Gregory Wallace, CNN, July 30).