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| Russian Kilo class Attack Submarine (File Photo) |
By Zachary Keck
Russia will begin a naval buildup in the Pacific Ocean next year, a top military official said on Thursday.
In an interview on Russia TV, Rear Admiral Sergei Avakyants, Commander of the Pacific Fleet, said that his fleet would begin receiving new warships next year for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“Rather large-scale deliveries of new equipment, new warships to the Pacific Fleet will start in 2014,” Ria Novostiquoted him as saying.
According to the article, Rear Admiral Avakyants said the Pacific Fleet would be receiving at least one of the first two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships (helicopter carriers) that France is currently building for the Russian Navy.
In 2011, Russia and France signed a US$1.52 billion agreement for four of the Mistral-class vessels, with the first two to be built in France and the other two in Russia. At the time, it was Russia’s largest arms purchase since the Soviet Union era, and caused significant alarm among NATO nations. Moscow sought to ease these concerns by promising that some of them would be deployed in the Pacific.
Read the full story at The Diplomat