MOSCOW, March 11 (AVN) - The State Duma lower house of Russian parliament is expected to consider a draft statement "Concerning Prevention of Collisions Between Submarines of Different States" at its next session, the Military News Agency learned on Sunday.
The draft was elaborated by lawmakers Nikolai Bezborodov and Valery Dorogin of the Russian Regions faction, Nikolai Zalepukhin of the Unity faction and Alexei Mitrofanov of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) faction.
An appendix to the statement contains a draft international agreement on safe navigation of submarines outside territorial waters, Dorogin, former commander of the Troops and Forces of the Russian North-east, told the Military News Agency. According to him, it is high time such a document was signed.
"It is no secret that there is no way to place training areas of our nuclear submarines within Russia's territorial waters that are limited by the 12km zone. The zones in international waters where those areas are located are regulated by special agreements, but it is very difficult for us to control their implementation in a specific moment of time. Among the reasons for it are lack of fuel for vessels and aviation in the fleets," Dorogin said.
A special agreement is needed to introduce rules of underwater navigation in those areas and responsibility for their violation, the admiral noted. The agreement should be primarily concluded with the nations that possess nuclear submarines - the United States, Great Britain and France. Besides, the Duma's draft stresses that the sea collision problem is a common one and concerns all countries.
Dorogin also said that the agreement was initially drafted by Rear Admiral Valery Alexin, former chief navigator of the Russian Navy. That is why the document takes into account all navigation rules.
"Being a professional submariner, I can say that all limitations that the draft agreement imposes on nuclear submarines are possible to implement," Dorogin concluded.