2009-01-29/Modernisation of Russian navy to take longer than planned
Modernisation of Russian navy to take longer than planned
By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 29th January 2009
A planned modernisation of the Russian navy will be carried out, but over a longer period, Medvedev says.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev says the Russian Navy will be modernised, but he also indicated that the modernisation might take more time than planned because of the financial slowdown, newswire MoscowTimes.com reported yesterday.
“Without a proper navy, Russia does not have a future as a state,” Medvedev told cadets at the Nakhimov Naval Academy in St Petersburg on Tuesday.
“We had difficult times in the 1990s, but now, despite difficulties, the government will indeed invest the funds promised for the Navy,” he said. “Perhaps some things will take longer, but [these projects] will be financed.”
Last July the navy announced that it planned to receive five or six aircraft carriers in the near future. Russia currently has only one aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is powered by steam-turbines, while all modern carriers are nuclear-powered.