KALININGRAD. Dec 20 (Interfax-AVN) - The local Yantar shipyard will continue building the Yaroslav Mudry guard-ship in 2002, shipyard director Nikolai Volov said on Thursday.
Volov spoke to Interfax-Military News Agency after meeting Navy Commander Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Kuroyedov.
The Yaroslav Mudry was laid down at a Kaliningrad dockyard in the early 1990s. Its construction has effectively been mothballed in the past few years. The vessel is more than 80 percent ready, Volov said.
A competent source in the Kaliningrad region administration told Interfax-AVN that the financing of the guard-ship's construction would be increased dramatically in 2002. Up to RUB211m (USD6.96m) will be allocated for that purpose, not RUB15m (USD494,890) as it was originally planned. A total of RUB1.3bn (USD42.9m) is needed to complete the vessel, experts say.
The Yaroslav Mudry was laid down as a large anti-submarine ship, which is classified as a first-rank vessel. However it was later transformed into a guard-ship, which is classified as a second-rank vessel, to make the project cheaper.