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Russia Announces Naval Buildup in Pacific Ocean

Mistral-class ship / AP

Russia will start building up its naval military presence in the Pacific Ocean in 2014, according to a top military official.

Speaking with Russia TV, Rear Admiral Sergei Avakyants, the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, said he would begin receiving new warships and equipment for the first time since the Soviet Union's collapse, The Diplomat reports:

"Rather large-scale deliveries of new equipment, new warships to the Pacific Fleet will start in 2014," Ria Novosti quoted him as saying.

According to the article, Rear Admiral Avakyants said the Pacific Fleet would be receiving at least one of the first two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships (helicopter carriers) that France is currently building for the Russian Navy.

In 2011, Russia and France signed a US$1.52 billion agreement for four of the Mistral-class vessels, with the first two to be built in France and the other two in Russia. At the time, it was Russia’s largest arms purchase since the Soviet Union era, and caused significant alarm among NATO nations. Moscow sought to ease these concerns by promising that some of them would be deployed in the Pacific.

According to Reuters, the Mistral-class ships can carry up to 16 helicopters as well as deliver troops, tanks and armored vehicles onto shore. Real Admiral Avakyants did not specify when the Mistral-class vessels would be arriving.

The Commander of Russia’s Pacific Fleet also said that one of the first Borey-class ballistic missile submarines would be given the fleet after they are first commissioned at the end of this year.

The Washington Free Beacon's Bill Gertz reported last week that Russian strategic nuclear bombers flew practice strike missions in the western Pacific and were intercepted by Japanese fighters. They were the latest case of strategic saber rattling by Moscow and followed what U.S. defense officials said earlier this year were practice-bombing runs against U.S. and Japanese military bases in the region.