MOSCOW, July 26 (AVN) - The Russian border guard group on the Caspian Sea will commission 14 new ships and boats from 2001 to 2010 to accomplish missions assigned to the Federal Border Guard Service (FBGS), a spokesman for the FBGS said on Thursday.
At the same time, the vessels' stationing areas in the ports of Kaspiysk, Makhachkala and Astrakhan will undergo reconstruction, the spokesman told the Military News Agency.
The FBGS is increasing the number of guard vessels in the Caspian Sea in order to implement the programme for backing Russia's strategic interests in the region approved by President Vladimir Putin on May 17, 2000.
Naval guard units of the North Caucasus regional border guard department commissioned three patrol and guard boats in 2000. The draft 2001 state defence order allocates over RUR240m (USD8.2m) on construction of vessels for the department, while the total amount of allocations for shipbuilding makes about RUR338m (USD11.55m).