PUTIN REMARKS ON RUSSIAN NAVY DAY

July 26 was Navy Day in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin met in St. Petersburg with the commanders of the Pacific, Northern, Baltic and Black Sea fleets, as well as the Caspian Flotilla, to hear reports on the current security landscape and missions. He had a separate meeting with naval personnel where he took questions.

Putin made a number of points in response to questions from naval personnel, including that Russian Navy participation in international exercises shows that Russia is anything but isolated.

“Their scope indicates that attempts to isolate Russia even in such a sensitive area as defense and security are going up in smoke,” Putin said.

“There are a great number of countries that feel friendly towards Russia and understand the tasks we are handling to ensure our security and strengthen the multipolar world… The growing scope of joint drills speaks volumes.”

Putin stressed the Russian Navy’s “enormous role in the nuclear triad” of Russian deterrence forces, as the submarine fleet “is equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles to deter any enemy and to inflict unacceptable damage to it in the event of direct aggression against the Russian Federation or threats to Russia’s sovereignty.”

Putin also spoke of the economic importance of the Arctic and the significance of re-establishing a Russian presence on the islands of Franz Josef Land and Alexandra Land. “We are developing economic activity there,” he said. “We need to act extremely carefully to protect our economic interests there, as you know.”

“We have never sought any sort of confrontation in this region. On the contrary, we have always invited everybody interested to cooperate in solidarity and in line with international law,” he continued.

“We are willing to cooperate with everybody provided that—and this goes without saying—these routes belong to the Russian Federation. We have the technical capabilities for that. As you know, no other country in the world has an icebreaker fleet like ours. I believe nobody else has nuclear-powered icebreakers. But we do. Starting with the Lenin, we are now building a Leader-class icebreaker that will be able to break meters-thick ice, which is unprecedented.”

“We are open to cooperation in this area, but we will certainly protect our interests—just as we do with the Northern Sea Route, because the most efficient and economically viable route runs largely through our territorial waters or the Russian Federation’s exclusive economic zone,” Putin stressed.