Russian Navy : News & Discussion

Russia’s New Navy Chief Vows To Stay the Course
By LYUBOV PRONINA, MOSCOW (DefenseNews)

Russia’s Navy will stay the course focusing on strategic nuclear forces while also boosting its rescue capabilities, the force’s new chief told reporters Sept. 5.

“The five-year fleet development program is being completed now, and we have worked out a new plan that will soon be signed by the defense minister,” Adm. Vladimir Masorin said at his first press conference. “Development of the strategic navy remains the main priority for us and a large sum of the naval budget goes toward that.”

Masorin, 58, was appointed Navy commander in chief Sept. 4 following the sacking of longtime forces leader Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov. Masorin was deputy Navy chief.

Kuroyedov became naval chief in 1997, and his tenure was rife with turmoil.

Under his watch, the Navy made international headlines with a number of embarrassing and deadly accidents, including the explosion aboard the nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank and claimed the lives of the 118-man crew. In August 2003, nine members of a 10-man submarine crew died when their vessel sank in the Barents Sea on the way to a scrap yard.

Also under Kuroyedov’s leadership, the Navy failed to advance plans to buy new battle ships, despite growing state defense allocations. Kuroyedov also got entangled in the battle for export contracts between Russian firms. Last month’s sinking of the AS-28 rescue mini-sub in the Pacific — and the way it was handled by the Navy — was seen by many as the last straw.

“One thing is clear: To continue in the condition that we are in now and do nothing is simply not possible,” Masorin said Sept. 5. “I have been given the task of stopping the Navy from shaking public opinion.”

Masorin lambasted the service’s top brass for “deception” following the AS-28 sinking. He said the Navy now lacks the funds to buy underwater rescue vessels of the type Britain sent to help Russia save the mini-sub. Russian-made vessels will be upgraded and re-equipped, he said.