On April 11, 2025, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin held a meeting in St. Petersburg on the issue "On the strategy for the development of the Navy for the period up to 2050." The most significant public statement at this meeting was the information that "in the coming decade, 8 trillion 400 billion rubles are provided for the construction of new ships and vessels of the Navy.",
(c) The Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation
The meeting was attended by Assistant to the President Alexey Dyumin, Assistant to the President Nikolai Patrushev, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Alexander Moiseev, President and Chairman of the Management Board of PJSC VTB Bank Andrey Kostin, CEO of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation Andrey Puchkov.
Vladimir Putin's speech at the opening of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, good afternoon!
Today, here in St. Petersburg, the historic maritime capital of Russia on the Baltic Sea, we will consider issues related to the strengthening and development of the Navy, identify a number of priorities for the future, and, of course, look from all sides at the development of shipbuilding in the broadest sense of the word.
I would like to note that we pay serious and constant attention to the improvement of the Navy. So, quite recently, as you know, at the end of March, a new multipurpose submarine Perm was launched in Severodvinsk. Then we also discussed many important issues of fleet development, social security for sailors and their families, as well as the renovation of naval bases and infrastructure of military camps, which is especially important for our Arctic territories.
I would like to emphasize once again that the Navy has played and is playing a crucial role in ensuring Russia's defense and security, and in protecting its national interests in the oceans. Both today and in the future, our ships should be able to effectively solve the full range of tasks assigned to them.
In recent years, we have been implementing a large-scale naval modernization program. Russian shipyards from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok are mass-producing surface ships and new missile submarines, including the latest Borey-A and Yasen-M projects. Significant funds have been allocated for these purposes.
Over the past five years, 49 ships of various classes have been built, and from 2020 to 2024, to date, four strategic submarines of the Borey-A project and four multipurpose submarines of the Yasen-M project have been commissioned into the Navy.
At the same time, it is obvious that the dynamics of the changing situation in the world, the emergence of new challenges and threats, including in maritime areas, and finally, the rapid technological and digital revolution, robotization, and the widespread introduction of unmanned systems all require the formation of a new look for the Navy.
In this regard, it is important to determine the promising characteristics and balanced composition of the fleet, to assess the possibilities of scientific and production capacities for the design and construction of new ships and support vessels.
At the same time, I consider it necessary to emphasize that it is important to systematically and consistently develop all components of the Navy. I am referring to underwater and surface groups of ships, naval aviation, coastal missile and artillery troops, as well as support facilities.
Of course, one of the priorities is to strengthen the Russian navy in its key segment of strategic nuclear forces, which serve as the most important guarantee of Russia's security and the preservation of global balance.
In this regard, of course, I would like to note that the share of modern weapons and equipment in the naval strategic nuclear forces in Russia is already 100 percent. And I emphasize that this indicator must be maintained in the future.
Along with this, it is necessary to continue and increase the serial production of modern ships of various classes. They should be equipped with advanced technology, including high-precision and hypersonic weapons, robotic complexes, and have new control, reconnaissance, communications, radar, sonar, and navigation systems.
I have already mentioned the Perm, which was launched on March 27 this year, a multi-purpose submarine. She became the first submarine armed with Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles. This already reminds us that some elements are appearing even for strategic nuclear forces. How much range does the Zircon have?
A. Moiseev: Comrade Supreme Commander, a thousand [kilometers] away.
Vladimir Putin: For a thousand. And the speed is under 10 Mach. This is already a weapon that can actually perform strategic tasks.
At the same time, the basis of training programs for military sailors should be a modern strategy and tactics of warfare, including taking into account the experience of a special military operation.
I would like to note that in the coming decade, 8 trillion 400 billion rubles are provided for the construction of new ships and vessels of the Navy, and these funds should be taken into account when forming the state armament program. Just before the meeting, we had a separate conversation with the Minister of Finance, too, this is a matter of principle, these funds are provided, but it will depend on the Navy development program itself. That's exactly what we're going to talk about today.
At the same time, it is necessary to objectively assess the capabilities of the shipbuilding, instrument-making, machine-tool and other related industries and fully implement all those instructions that were given earlier, including following the meeting on the development of shipbuilding, held on June 26 last year.
As we agreed, special attention should be paid to the settlement of pricing issues in the shipbuilding industry and the development of production of Russian components and equipment.
A separate, fundamental topic for the qualitative development of the fleet today and in the future is the development and production of domestic unmanned ship-based aircraft systems and marine robotic complexes, as well as the mass production of unmanned underwater and surface boats.
At the same time, all these systems operating in the air, underwater, and on the sea surface must be closely integrated into a single reconnaissance and strike contour and connected to our satellite constellation.
I repeat, it is precisely such advanced technological solutions and the balanced development of the fleet in all strategic areas that will allow us to effectively solve problems in the field of security, defense, and protection of our interests in the oceans and in the context of global geopolitical and technological changes.
