Russia has committed over $3 billion to start rebuilding its Black Sea fleet. The new force will consist of six Tornado class, 500 ton missile boats, three 4,000 ton Krivak IV frigates and three Kilo class submarines. There will also be a dozen or more mine sweepers, amphibious craft and smaller patrol boats, plus about twenty support ships and a few dozen aircraft and helicopters. ...
Last year, the government ordered the navy to concentrate on building new ships for the Black and Baltic Seas, instead of planning a high seas aircraft carrier fleet.
The Black Sea and Baltic Sea fleets were decimated by the break up of the Soviet Union. They need the most work. The Black Sea is priority, I'd think, given the challenges of Ukraine, Georgia, and Caucasus jihadis.
But Russia needs fleets for all their seas. The Northern Fleet needs to be strong enough to hold the Barents Sea to stop attacks on Russian soil and as a haven for ballistic missile submarines.
Russia also needs a Pacific Fleet able to at minimum hold a safe haven for missile subs in the Sea of Okhotsk, and to protect their coast from attacks from the Sea of Japan.
Throw in a Caspian Sea flotilla while we're talking. And the Arctic Sea, of course.
Russia doesn't have the money to be a land power and a sea power. Heck, they may not have the money to ba a land power across Eurasia. Russia's military has serious issues to contend with. So scrapping global naval ambitions is the only sensible thing they can do.
