At a navy day parade in the port city of St. Petersburg on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country’s navy is capable of carrying out a “lethal” and “unpreventable strike” if necessary.
“The Russian Navy today has everything it needs to guarantee the protection of our country and our national interests…We can detect underwater, surface, or aerial enemies and target them if a lethal strike is necessary,” the Moscow Times quoted Putin as saying during his address at the parade. Putin added that Russia had secured its place among the world’s leading naval powers by developing “the latest hypersonic precision weapons still unrivalled in the world.” Although the United States (US), China, France and other major world powers have announced plans to develop their hypersonic weapons, they are yet to catch up. In this regard, Putin said that Russia would “constantly and successfully improve” its weapons. Russia also has the second-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons globally and a massive cache of ballistic missiles.
Putin’s comments come after an incident in the Black Sea last month when the British warship HMS Defender “illegally” transited through Crimean waters that Russia considers part of its territory. Although Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the United Kingdom (UK) and most of the world recognises the Black Sea peninsula as part of Ukraine. Russia claimed that it fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of the British warship to chase it out. Putin said Russia could have sunk the vessel and accused the UK of “provocation.” However, the UK rejected Russia’s account of the incident, saying that no bombs had been dropped and any shots fired were a pre-announced Russian “gunnery exercise.”
BNN Bloomberg reported that more than 50 naval vessels, 48 aeroplanes and helicopters of naval aviation, and 4,000 troops took part in this past weekend’s parade, which came ahead of the Russian Navy’s 325th anniversary in October. Destroyers, submarines, assault vessels, and the Prince Vladimir, a Borei-A class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, were also on display at the parade. Russia also launched the Mechanic Sizov supertrawler, the third of ten newest generation supertrawlers, being built as part of the civil shipbuilding development programme commissioned by the Russian Fishery Company. Russia’s Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, was present at Sunday’s parade, where international allies such as Iran, Pakistan, and India also featured their vessels and crews.
Despite a ban on public gatherings in St. Petersburg and other parts of Russia due to a new wave of COVID-19 infections caused by the highly infectious Delta variant and a slow vaccination campaign, thousands of spectators came to watch the parade. Many of them reportedly did not wear masks. RFE/RL mentioned that similar scenes were witnessed in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet held another naval parade.