ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 27 (Interfax) - The development of the Russian Navy is set as one of the top priorities of the state, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Russian Navy's further development was and remains one of our top priorities in all of its aspects," Putin said at a keel-laying ceremony of the ice-class patrol boat Nikolai Zubov on Wednesday.
This strategic goal will be resolved consistently and substantively, he said.
"We always hope for the experience, the high professional level, and a well-coordinated work of the staffs, like the Admiralty Shipyards and other our shipbuilding enterprises," Putin said.
The Russian president visited the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky large submarine, and the two ships under construction, the Ivan Papanin ice-class patrol boat and the Victor Chernomyrdin icebreaker.
Commander of the submarine Anton Yusupov reported to the president on its main characteristics. The head of state asked where Yusupov has earlier served, and asked him about the submarine crew and about the number of its crewmembers.
Admiralty Shipyards Director General Alexander Buzakov briefed the president on those ships under construction. The head of state was shown those icebreakers, which are docked at the shipyards.
Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Admiralty Shipyards Director General Alexander Buzakov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov, Navy Commander Nikolai Yevmenov, United Shipbuilding Corporation President Alexei Rakhmanov accompanied the president during the visit to the Admiralty Shipyards.
The Admiralty Shipyards is a core enterprise of the shipbuilding industry and a Russian non-nuclear submarine shipbuilding center. Two families of Russian Navy's submarines, a series of patrol icebreakers for the Navy, a range of patrol icebreakers for the Navy, and a range of large fishing freezer trawlers and the North Pole self-propelled offshore ice-resistant fixed platform are under construction now.