This was just the latest statement from Putin on the significance of the Russian Navy in recent weeks, highlighting its renewed focus after the nation’s sea service had largely been left to languish. Its largest warships, including its flagship aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, are out of service, and their respective refits have no confirmed completion date.
Putin suggested that Russia build a fleet of modern and far more capable warships.
“Our vessels must be able to effectively fulfill the entire range of tasks set for them now and in the future,” Putin explained, highlighting the progress that has been made so far, according to a report from Naval Today.
“In recent years, we have been implementing a large-scale Navy modernization program,” Putin added. “From Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, Russia’s shipyards are engaged in the serial production of surface ships and new missile submarines, including the state-of-the-art Project Borei-A and Project Yasen-M vessels. Significant funds have been allocated for this.”
Putin noted that forty-nine new ships have entered service over the past five years and called for new technologies to be developed.
Is $100 Billion Enough to Support the Borei-A and Yasen-M Production?
$100.8 billion is a significant amount of money, but to put it in perspective, Elon Musk’s net worth has dropped by as much as $148 billion due to losses in Tesla’s stock price.
Furthermore, the UK’s current annual defense budget is around £53 billion, while the United States Department of the Navy’s fiscal year 2025 (FY25) budget request was $257.6 billion, an increase of $1.8 billion.
In other words, Russia’s naval budget for the next decade barely outpaces the annual UK defense spending, less than 40 percent of what the U.S. will spend just this year.
Elon Musk has the readily available cash to outspend the Kremlin if desired, but he seems intent on going to Mars rather than building a few pricey warships that won’t be described as a blue-water navy!
Are the Borei-A and Yasen-M Worth the Money?
In 2009, then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev boldly said, “Without a proper navy, Russia does not have a future as a state.“
Medvedev may be reminded that Imperial Russia became a great power only after Tsar Peter I founded the basis of the modern Russian Navy. However, as stated previously, Moscow will never attain a proper naval force on the scale of the U.S. Navy again.
At best, it will be squadrons rather than fleets.
Yet, perhaps Putin is playing a long game against a far less skilled politician. While Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had called for an $8 billion cut in defense spending, in recent weeks, President Donald Trump has suggested the United States needs to increase the Pentagon’s budget to $1 trillion!
It might seem counterintuitive to suggest that Russia would want this. Still, one must remember that the United States under President Ronald Reagan won the Cold War by outspending the Soviet Union. Now, Russia may be convincing the United States that it needs to be the one to increase spending, and possibly well beyond what is required.
The U.S. Navy continues to build a fleet of expensive supercarriers that could be little more than big targets, a point even Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth acknowledged, while numerous other programs are over budget and behind schedule. It may not make us safer, but it ensures we keep spending.
Is that at play, and is Putin driving the United States to financial instability? Or does he also believe Russia has no future without a navy?
Only one of these can be true.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock/ Kuleshov Oleg.
