Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the commissioning ceremony of several warships via video conference on Thursday, praising the capabilities of the Russian fleet, France Presse reports.

The head of the Kremlin, who avoids participating in public events after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, gave a signal on Thursday in a video conference to raise the Russian flag on new ships.

Among them is the submarine “Generalisim Suvorov”, a nuclear submarine capable of launching nuclear ballistic missiles. Another ship of the same Borei A class, Emperor Alexander III, was inaugurated and will soon begin sea trials.

“I insist that we accelerate and increase the volume of construction of ships of various types, equip them with the most modern weapons systems,” the Russian president said.

“In a word, everything must be done to ensure Russia’s security, our national interests in the world ocean,” Putin said.

Army equipment damaged by technical problems and corruption

After nearly 23 years in power, Vladimir Putin has made it a priority to rebuild his military from the stagnant state it found itself in in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He equipped the armed forces with state-of-the-art missiles, some hypersonic, new and armored ships. But these projects are also very expensive, have long delays, and have been undermined by both technical problems and corruption.

Modernized but still partly ill-equipped and poorly organized, Russian forces have suffered numerous defeats since Vladimir Putin launched an offensive against Ukraine on February 24.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, based on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, suffered a major humiliation when Ukrainian forces managed to sink the fleet’s flagship, the cruiser Moskva, in April. (source Agerpres)

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