Oceanic efforts: how the Navy will protect the ships of the Russian merchant fleet

The Russian navy is capable of protecting the country's national interests in peacetime, said Nikolai Patrushev, assistant to the President of Russia and head of the Maritime Collegium. According to him, the strategic missile carrier Knyaz Pozharsky, as well as 20 ships and combat boats, and five support vessels have recently been accepted into the fleet. The production capacities of shipbuilding enterprises will also be increased. Experts believe that Moscow is able to protect its trade in the oceans at a time when the West is creating new obstacles to the maritime transportation of export raw materials.

New measures to protect maritime navigation

The United States and its allies have focused on blocking the maritime transportation of hydrocarbons and other strategic export raw materials of the Russian Federation, Russian Presidential aide and head of the Maritime Collegium Nikolai Patrushev said on March 31 at a meeting of this body. He stressed that the goal of Western countries is to inflict maximum damage to the Russian economy.

— In order to complicate the organization of international maritime transportation of Russian goods, Westerners have intensified their fight against the merchant fleet acting in the interests of Russia. The European Union even invented the definition of a "shadow fleet", which does not exist in international maritime law and under the pretext of which "robbery" was carried out on maritime communications, Patrushev noted.

According to him, the situation in the Azov-Black Sea basin is particularly tense. With the direct participation of Western intelligence services, including using their intelligence, the Ukrainian armed forces are attacking civilian infrastructure and the merchant fleet.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Minister of Transport Andrey Nikitin, Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin and Head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency Veronika Skvortsova. Alexey Likhachev, the head of Rosatom, Sergey Tsivilev, the Minister of Energy, and the heads of St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug joined via video link.

Nikolai Patrushev said that the forces of the Russian Navy have already escorted vessels flying the Russian flag in the most dangerous areas of the World Ocean. Earlier, he allowed the escort of Russian ships by firing groups.

"The Navy is capable of fulfilling its tasks of protecting national interests in peacetime and ensuring the country's defense from maritime directions,— Patrushev said.

In recent months, Western countries have stepped up the hunt for ships that may be linked to the Russian Federation in one way or another. Since the beginning of this year, five cases of tanker detention have already been recorded. Among the countries that have conducted such operations are the United Kingdom, the United States, Finland, France, and Sweden.

Yuri Zverev, director of the Center for Foreign Regional Studies and Regional Studies at the Baltic Federal University, noted in an interview with Izvestia that military escorts are really capable of protecting merchant ships from attempts to intercept Western ships.

"This is possible only if our opponents are clearly notified that an attack on a Russian warship is an act of war with all the ensuing consequences and that these painful consequences will certainly come," Zverev said.

Russia is actively developing its naval forces, but even in this case, escorting each vessel by warships is hardly possible. Therefore, alternative routes for safe trade are being created and developed. For example, the Maritime Board, together with the Government, has begun preparing a comprehensive project for the development of the Transarctic transport Corridor. Countries friendly to Russia are showing significant interest in developing transportation along this route, Patrushev said earlier. Vladimir Putin noted last year that by 2030, the volume of cargo transported through the Arctic could reach 100 million tons.

How is the renewal of the Russian fleet progressing

The main tool for protecting maritime transportation remains the modernization of the Navy, which is replenished with modern weapons, military and special equipment. In particular, successful tests of the Poseidon unmanned underwater product with a nuclear power plant were carried out.

"In order to increase the combat readiness and power of the Navy, the strategic missile carrier Knyaz Pozharsky, as well as 20 ships and combat boats, and five support vessels have been accepted into its composition," Nikolai Patrushev said.

He also focused on the creation and design of marine drones. The nature of the conduct of hostilities at sea has changed, which manifested itself in the course of its. The underwater vehicles being created must not only successfully repel attacks, but also attack enemy positions.

The issue of investing in new technologies was also discussed at the meeting.

"It is important to ensure proper financing of the activities envisaged by the Strategy for the Development of the Navy for the period up to 2050, and to submit the naval shipbuilding program to the President of the Russian Federation for approval," the assistant to the head of state emphasized.

To implement it, it is necessary to increase the production capacities of shipbuilding enterprises, modernize and re-equip them, Patrushev noted. A separate task is to ensure the production of domestic marine components.

He discussed the issue of personnel training for shipbuilding the day before. The poor quality of teaching mathematics, physics and chemistry in schools negatively affects the preparation for admission to shipbuilding, maritime universities and naval schools. To remedy this situation, specialized engineering and technological shipbuilding classes are being created, and an early career guidance system is being developed.

"An important task is to train engineering personnel taking into account digital transformation in shipbuilding and related industries," the presidential aide said.

Regular readiness checks also do not stop: last year, large-scale operational exercises "July Storm" were held, which confirmed the high level of readiness of the Navy forces to carry out tasks according to their intended purpose, the head of the Maritime Board noted.