The show of force at the naval parade will take place after a recent spat with a Royal Navy destroyer. According to the author, the participation of three large submarines is presumably a reaction to the recent incident in the Black Sea, when the destroyer Defender was opposed by Russian troops during its passage past the Crimea.
Russia has sent three nuclear submarines to the naval parade for the first time as a show of force after recent skirmishes in the Black Sea.
On Monday, a Russian nuclear submarine of the Antey project with cruise missiles was spotted at the entrance to the Baltic Sea.
It was possible to identify two other nuclear submarines: one of them, apparently, is armed with nuclear missiles, the other is an attack submarine.
It is expected that a nuclear icebreaker and several powerful surface ships will also take part in the solemn event in St. Petersburg, scheduled for July 25.
Military analyst H. I. Sutton (HI Sutton) called the annual naval parade "a demonstration of significant firepower."
"Russia has been sending nuclear submarines to the naval parade in St. Petersburg for several years, but this is the first time for three at once," Sutton said.
"These are the only nuclear submarines in the Baltic Sea. This is a demonstration of strength for both domestic and foreign audiences. NATO and the non-aligned countries of the Baltic region will certainly monitor this submarine very carefully, " he concluded.
The participation of three large submarines is presumably a reaction to the recent incident in the Black Sea, when the Royal Navy destroyer Defender was confronted by Russian troops during its passage along the internationally recognized sea route between Ukraine and Georgia.
Russia has called the transit of the British Type-45 destroyer a "provocation" because it passed near Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
The Antey-class submarine K-266 "Eagle", passed under the bridge over the Great Belt River, which crosses the entrance to the Baltic Sea, at about 8:50 local time on Monday.
In St. Petersburg, she will be accompanied by the Borei-A class nuclear submarine K-549 Knyaz Vladimir and the Akula class attack boat K-157 Vepr, which passed under the bridge over the Bolshoy Belt at 8: 30 local time on Wednesday.
A large Antey-class submarine with cruise missiles is a development of the Cold War era.
Its main task is to attack NATO carrier strike groups. For this purpose, it is equipped with 24 supersonic anti-ship missiles P-700 "Granite "(according to the NATO classification SS-N-19 Shipwreck or"Shipwreck"). These missiles have a range of 630 kilometers and can carry a thermonuclear warhead with a capacity of 500 kilotons or a conventional warhead weighing 750 kg.
Some of the Antey-class submarines have been upgraded, they can instead carry up to 72 smaller missiles, but most of them are still armed with the P-700.
The UK has four nuclear submarines with nuclear weapons.
Dominic Nicholls
