In an interview published Monday, Kremlin assistant Nikolai Patrushev revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had approved a new navy strategy aimed at restoring Russia's status as one of world's foremost maritime powers.

According to public rankings, Russia's navy is the third-most powerful in the world after China and the United States. However, the navy has suffered several high-profile defeats during the Ukraine War.

Patrushev is a former KGB agent who served under Putin in the city of St Petersburg in northern Russia during the Soviet era. He said that Putin had approved the new strategy for the development of the Russian Navy until 2050 in late May.

In an interview, Patrushev said that Russia's position in the world as one of its greatest maritime powers was gradually recovering.

Patrushev stated that it was impossible to do such work without having a long-term view of scenarios for the future of the situation on the oceans and the evolution of threats and challenges, as well as without knowing the goals and objectives of the Russian Navy.

Patrushev did not provide any further details on the strategy. However, Russia's spending on security and defence has increased to Cold War levels in terms of a proportion of its gross domestic product.

According to a report by the U.S. Department of Defence, China will have the largest naval force in the world in 2021. Beijing's battleforce should grow to 460 vessels by 2030.

According to open source data, Russia is home to 79 subs, including 14 ballistic missile-equipped nuclear submarines. It also has 222 warships. The Northern Fleet is based in Severomorsk, on the Barents Sea. (Reporting and editing by Lidia Kelsey/Guy Faulconbridge).

(source: Reuters)