Russia is going to introduce six Project-636 diesel electric submarines into its Black Sea Fleet, Iterfax quotes the Russian Defense Ministry’s naval spokesman as saying. It is intended to finish the construction of all these subs by 2017.
Updating a fleet is a multifactor issue. It is of, firstly, military-technical; secondly, political; thirdly, economic; and, fourthly, environmental importance.
Russia currently has only one submarine, the Aprosa, which is going to be repaired. Every modernization or construction of a warship is aimed at upgrading its operational capabilities. Otherwise it is no use doing this at all. Here comes the first problem. The Black Sea Fleet’s ships and aircraft cannot be modernized only the way the Russian side wants it – this should be done in compliance with certain agreements concluded with Ukraine.
Here we come across the constant failure, real or imaginary, of our Russian partners to understand things and their desire to achieve what they wish by hook or by crook.
As Valentyn Badrak, director of the Center for Army, Conversion, and Disarmament Studies, told The Day, “there was once a dispute over the replacement of Su-17 airplanes with newer Su-24M that can carry nuclear weapons. The Ukrainian side at first resolutely opposed this but then agreed under the condition that the nuclear-carrying units would be dismantled from the planes. In the long run, the Russian side in fact did, ‘by default,’ what it had planned: it received the planes it wanted. The same applies to missile boats – the older ships are being replaced with more up-to-date ones which the fleet had never had before. As a result, the Black Sea Fleet received the powerful missile boats Samum and Bora. The same may occur in the case of submarines: at first some changes will be made and then new subs will be introduced, which will essentially broaden the range of Black Sea Fleet armaments.”
Here we step from the military-technical factor to the political one. Firstly, the Ukrainian government has no clear-cut strategy about the stationing of a foreign military contingent on our territory. This individual problem derives from a more general one: the relations between Kyiv and Moscow. What is more, the latter is the side that always attacks, while the former has to take a defensive posture. And the blame has been lying not with the First Capital City but exclusively with our authorities throughout the period of Ukraine’s independence.
(To be continued)
