Free Republic

Reuters) - Russia plans to resume nuclear submarine patrols in the southern seas after a hiatus of more than 20 years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Saturday, in another example of efforts to revive Moscow's military. The plan to send Borei-class submarines, designed to carry 16 long-range nuclear missiles, to the southern hemisphere follows President Vladimir Putin's decision in March to deploy a naval unit in the Mediterranean Sea on a permanent basis starting this year. "The revival of nuclear submarine patrols will allow us to fulfill the tasks of strategic deterrence not...

Russian strategic sub recalled for inspection MOSCOW | Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:03am IST MOSCOW (Reuters) - One of Russia's premier nuclear submarines, slated to carry its next generation of strategic missiles, has been called back from sea trials, possibly delaying deployment, a top weapons designer said on Monday. The Yuri Dolgoruky, Russia's first Borei-class submarine, was designed to carry the nuclear-capable Bulava intercontinental missiles, which the Kremlin hopes to make the cornerstone of its arsenal over the next decade. "Right now the cruiser is returning to the shop. I think the work will last half a year," Yuri Solomonov,...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Sunday launched its first new generation nuclear submarine since the fall of the Soviet Union as the Kremlin seeks to upgrade its undersea nuclear strike force. The long delayed Yuri Dolgoruky, the first Borei-class (Arctic Wind) nuclear submarine, was moved to the dry docks at a highly secret submarine base in the Arctic town of Severodvinsk, the heart of Russia's northern submarine fleet. Sergei Ivanov, Russia's powerful first deputy prime minister who rules the military-industrial sector, took part in the ceremony along with the navy top brass and Kremlin advisors. "For the first time in...

MOSCOW: Moving to boost its strategic arsenal, Russia has acquired a batch of Soviet-built ballistic missiles from Ukraine and is preparing to begin producing a new generation of nuclear submarines, officials said on Friday. Ukraine inherited the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but later renounced nuclear weapons and transferred all its 1,300 nuclear warheads to Russia for destruction. It has also dismantled most of its Soviet-made strategic missiles with US financial assistance, but Ukraine's space agency reportedly took over some 30 RS-18 missiles -- called SS-19 by Nato. The Ukrainian government decided last...