President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to cooperate in the Arctic but will protect its interests in this region, including the Northern Sea Route.
This is because the most efficient and economically viable Northern Sea Route mostly runs through our territorial waters or within Russia's exclusive economic zone. In other words, it is completely under our control. The closer to the coast, the more efficient and safer it is" - TASS quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying during the meeting.
Also in the meeting, President Putin said that the trajectory of Russia's ballistic missile passes through the Northern Sea Route, where Russian submarines are on duty.
Other countries are also looking to enter this area. We have developed this area and will continue to develop it. This is very important from an economic perspective," he added.
The Russian leader emphasized: "Russian armed forces are deployed to the Arctic region to protect national interests and not to threaten anyone.
We have built a comprehensive program and will continue to do so, creating conditions for people to live and work there" - Mr. Putin revealed.
Russia's wealth will grow through the Arctic, an extremely important region for the country, the Russian President noted.
We all know the famous saying of Lomonosov (a 18th-century Russian scientist) that Russia's wealth will grow through Siberia and now, without exaggeration, we can say that Russia's wealth will grow through the Arctic" - the President said.
In a meeting with members of the Russian Navy, President Vladimir Putin informed that no other country has an icebreaker fleet comparable to Russia and Russia is building an icebreaker capable of breaking through an ice layer of more than 3m thick.
Currently, we are building the Leader ship, capable of breaking the unprecedentedly thick ice layer, more than 3m. No one else in the world has anything similar" - the President affirmed.
In the exchange, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that large warships will still be the backbone for naval development. "I am not only referring to nuclear submarines carrying long-range intercontinental missile systems, but also surface warships, including destroyers, cruisers and other types," Putin said.
President Vladimir Putin said that few countries in the world can be proud to possess weapons such as Russia's Tsirkon supersonic cruise missile. "We have and will continue to upgrade them," he said.
The President added that Russia is commissioning small tonnage warships equipped with modern weapons. Mr. Putin emphasized that the "mosquito fleet" (a force consisting of small naval ships, heavily armed) always exists, the main difference is the technology that this fleet uses.
We have and have long owned warships with small tonnage and low tonnage equipped with modern weapons," the Russian President said, adding that the Kalibr surface attack cruise missile is basically launched from small ships.
