Russia Maritime Studies Institute

In February 2024, the President of the Russian Federation signed the Decree, which identified the updated Military Districts’ administrative boundaries, effective 1 March 2024. Russia dissolved the Northern Fleet Military District and the Western Military District and redistributed their ground and air military installations, forces, and capabilities between the newly established Moscow and Leningrad Military Districts. Under this reorganization, all Russian Navy fleets and flotillas, including the Northern Fleet, were separated from the OSK structure and subordinated directly to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy.

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This article examines the state’s naval policy as an integral part of the Russian Federation’s military security system. It describes the role of Navy leaders and naval scientists in the formation of naval policy at the beginning of the 21st century. The authors identify the main issues of naval policy in modern conditions that are intertwined with the formation and development of the Navy. The article is particularly compelling as Admiral Kuroyedov provides a first-hand account of the development of Russian naval policy through the 1990s and 2000s, and links that development to Russia’s current strategic environment.

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In 2020, Russia adopted the Foundations of the Russian Federation State Policy in the Arctic for the Period up to 2035 and the Strategy for Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation and Provision of National Security for the Period up to 2035. Under President Putin’s signature, these documents were amended on 21 February and 27 February 2023, respectively. The new language reveals important changes to domestic and foreign policies and implementation measures regarding issues in the Russian Arctic.

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In 2020, Russia adopted the Foundations of the Russian Federation State Policy in the Arctic for the Period up to 2035 and the Strategy for Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation and Provision of National Security for the Period up to 2035. Under President Putin’s signature, these documents were amended on 21 February and 27 February 2023, respectively. The new language reveals important changes to domestic and foreign policies and implementation measures regarding issues in the Russian Arctic.

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In 2022, the Russian Federation twice amended articles relevant to navigation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route included in this law. The first and second set of amendments were signed by President Vladimir Putin on June 28, 2022 and December 5, 2022. It amends the law and stipulates that foreign-flagged ships sailing in the internal sea waters of the Russian Federation must comply with legislation of the Russian Federation, navigation rules in the internal sea waters, and mobile and satellite communication regulations established by the Russian Federation.

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The 2022 Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation was approved by President Vladimir Putin on July 31, 2022. It supersedes the previous 2015 Maritime Doctrine. The 2022 document expands and sharpens many of the themes resident in the earlier document, including the need to secure and protect critical resources at sea, expand Russia’s maritime presence in global trade, and develop infrastructure that supports this growth. It also contains new information, such as Russia’s broader approach to piracy, international cooperation, and mobilization readiness.

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Current Foundations is a strategic planning document to ensure the national security of the Russian Federation and is designed to defend the national interests of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. Current Foundations defines the goals, main trends and objectives, as well as the means for implementing the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic.

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Russia’s October 2020 Strategy for Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation and Provision of National Security for the Period up to 2035 is the implementation document for the previously published Foundations of the Russian Federation State Policy in the Arctic for the Period up to 2035, which was published the previous March. The Arctic Strategy provides details for the broader concepts and ideas laid out in the Foundations, as well as timelines and expected implementation results for the various measures it outlines. It is structured in a classic ends-ways-means approach, describing the ways and means by which Moscow will achieve the ends defined in the Arctic Foundations.

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Russia is taking a systematic approach to developing its presence in the maritime domain. Three documents published by Moscow since 2015 provide the roadmap for Russia’s global maritime ambitions. These are the Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation (2015), the Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Naval Operations to 2030 (2017), and this document, the 2019 Strategy for the Development of Russia’s Maritime Activities to 2030. The Maritime Doctrine and the Naval Fundamentals articulate high-level policy objectives and provide a set of ways and means for achieving those objectives. In contrast, the Strategy focuses on implementation challenges as well as ways to determine measures of effectiveness in achieving the ends stated by its predecessor documents.

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The Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Naval Operations for the Period Until 2030 reflects the Russian Federal Navy’s (RFN) improved capabilities, its evolving strategic and operational role, and its future ambitions. Signed on July 20, 2017 by President Vladimir Putin, it provides a series of guideposts for understanding the RFN’s future, as well as broader insight into how Moscow approaches issues of national and international security.

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The 2015 Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation is arguably one of the most important doctrinal statements to emerge from that country in recent years. It is in any case Russia’s most important recent articulation of its maritime interests and goals, and therefore provides insight into how Moscow envisions Russia’s global role. Yet because of the challenges of reading Russian and the absence of a publicly available translation of this essential document, western understanding of it is largely limited.

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Since Moscow’s formal intervention in the Syrian conflict in September 2015, the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic have concluded a 49-year lease for the use and expansion of the naval base at Tartus, and a separate agreement on stationing the Russian "aviation group" at Humaymim airfield in Syria. These agreements build off longstanding Russian-Syrian ties, treaties, and cooperation agreements, and form the legal basis for Russia’s long-term presence in Syria. Further, the agreements denote the rights and protections Russian military members and contractors enjoy in Syria.

Read about the Basing Agreements