The fleet is now in a position to locate any enemy under, on the water and in the air and to deal a blow if necessary, Putin said on Sunday in St. Petersburg. In the city on the Gulf of Finland, more than 50 warships, including from India, Iran and Pakistan, around 50 aircraft and around 4,000 military personnel took part in the arms show, as the Kremlin in Moscow announced.
The sea power Russia has developed powerful destroyers, nuclear submarines with missiles, an effective air force and, most recently, hypersonic weapons that are unique in the world, in a very short time, Putin said. “Today the naval forces of Russia have everything they need to guarantee the protection of our homeland and our national interests.” Russia is one of the countries with the longest coastlines in the world – after Canada, Indonesia and Greenland.
There were also naval parades on Naval Forces Day in other Russian naval bases such as the base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula, in Syrian Tartus in the Mediterranean and at the Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok. Russia’s fleets – the Baltic, Caspian, Black, Pacific and North Sea fleets – have contributed to the country’s size and fame for centuries, Putin said. The Navy was founded in 1696 under Tsar Peter I.