Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the commissioning ceremony of several new warships (including a submarine capable of carrying nuclear missiles) on Thursday, vowing to produce more and touting the capabilities of his fleet. The master of the Kremlin, who has avoided participating in public engagements since the Covid-19 pandemic, gave the signal on Thursday by videoconference to hoist the Russian flag on the new buildings.
Among them, the submarine Generalissimo Suvorov, a nuclear submarine capable of launching atomic ballistic missiles. Another ship of the same Borei A class, theEmperor Alexander III, was inaugurated and should soon begin sea trials. released the Russian president. In a word, it is about doing everything to ensure the security of Russia, our national interests on the oceans of the world. »
Big… and expensive projects
For nearly twenty-three years in power, Vladimir Putin has made rebuilding his army a priority after its slump in the 1990s following the fall of the USSR. It has equipped the armed forces with ultra-modern missiles, some hypersonic, new ships and armored vehicles in particular. But these projects are also often very expensive, take a lot of delays and have been undermined by technical problems but also by corruption.
Modernized, but still partly poorly equipped and poorly organized, Russian forces have suffered numerous setbacks since Vladimir Putin launched his offensive against Ukraine on February 24. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, based on Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula which Moscow annexed in 2014, suffered a heavy humiliation when Ukrainian forces managed to sink its flagship, the Moskvain April.