Highlights of Russia's new maritime doctrine
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E-mail Xinhua, July 27, 2015
Moscow on Sunday released its new maritime doctrine, which underscored the country's reaction to the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) towards Russia's western frontier.
REGIONAL OBJECTIVES
The amended maritime doctrine listed Russia's strategic objectives along its borders and also in the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic and the Antarctic.
In the Arctic, the document urged "reducing the threats to Russian national security and the maintenance of strategic stability," as well as "consolidating Russia's leading position in the research and development of marine areas," while stressing the development of the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet to meet the country's national security challenges.
In addition to the "provision of sufficient Russian naval presence in the Atlantic Ocean", the doctrine also said the Pacific, the Caspian Sea and the Indian Ocean are areas of strategic importance to Russia.
The doctrine also included the Antarctic as a new area of Russian interest due to growing activity in the region.
The doctrine pushed to regain Russia's strategic positions in the Black Sea, which is closer to its borders, by improving the Black Sea Fleet and its infrastructure in Crimea and coastal Krasnodar Territory, and called for "ensuring sufficient naval presence of the Russian Federation" in the Mediterranean "on a permanent basis".
TECHNOLOGICAL INDEPENDENCE
The new doctrine mentioned for the first time independent shipbuilding, stressing the need for a long-term technological independence in the fields of shipbuilding and naval equipment in accordance with the state armament program.
NAVAL COOPERATION
The doctrine underscored friendly relations with China in the Pacific and India in the Indian Ocean, as well as other forces in the region, as key parts of Russia's national marine policy.
It also reiterated Russia's longstanding disapproval of NATO's expansion toward its western frontier, which the doctrine said is unacceptable to Russia and which remains a determining factor in Russia-NATO relations.
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