Realities may constrain Russia's naval strategy

Subject

Russian Naval doctrine

Significance

The Russian navy's next-generation reconnaissance ships, the Admiral Yury Ivanov-class, are capable of locating gaps in the US Aegis sea-based missile defence system, German newspaper Bild reported on August 6. The first ship was delivered to the fleet on July 26, Russia's Navy Day, at a ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees Russia's military-industrial sector. On the same day the government also released a revised Maritime Doctrine updating the original 2001 text, (revised slightly in 2011). The government is now developing new maritime legislation on the basis of the doctrine.

Impacts

• The new doctrine more explicitly describes NATO as a threat to Russia than previous published military doctrines.
• Russia's military has reversed its planned East Asia pivot to reinforce its western and northern fronts with NATO.
• Russia will remain primarily a regional naval power for at least the next decade.