Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has pledged that as the conflict in Ukraine rages on and tensions with the West rise, the Russian Navy will soon be armed with new hypersonic missiles.
Putin lauded Russian Tsar Peter the Major for creating Russia a great maritime force during his speech on Russia’s Navy Day onboard a ship in St. Petersburg, and he bragged of the special capabilities of the hypersonic weaponry.
“We established the borders and sectors of Russia’s national interests – economic, critical, and geopolitical – clearly and unambiguously,” Putin said in his succinct speech. First, they are our territorial seas, including the Arctic, Black Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea, Baltic Sea, and Kuril Strait. We shall take all necessary precautions to assure their protection.
Putin praised the Russian Navy’s capabilities, saying that it is “…capable of responding instantly to all those who decide to impinge on our sovereignty and freedom, and successfully carrying out its strategic missions on the borders of our country.” He also named the Admiral Gorshkov frigate as the first to deploy this weapon on active duty, adding that it “…will be supplied to the Armed Forces.”
More than 40 ships, submarines, and launchers, 42 planes, and more than 3,500 sailors participated in the naval display, according to the Kremlin. Other ports, particularly the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania, celebrated in a similar manner. A signing ceremony for the new naval doctrine took place in St. Petersburg’s famed Peter and Paul Fortress after the celebration.
The site was particularly significant since in April, the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea fleet, was sunk, dealing Russia its heaviest blow in the war in Ukraine.
Russia recently accused Ukraine of conducting a drone attack on the Sevastopol barracks of the Black Sea navy in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it illegitimately seized in 2014, just after Putin approved the new naval doctrine. At least six persons were hurt in the incident, according to Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev’s message on his Telegram channel.
However, Kyiv-based Ukrainian officials swiftly denied any participation. The customary naval parade in the Crimean port will not take place due to security concerns, pro-Russian officials in Sevastopol had said the day before.
