Interview with Russian Navy Commander Admiral Korolev

OE Watch Commentary: Russia’s recent military
developments have included significant efforts to
improve the Russian Navy, so far with mixed results.
In February 2018 a journalist from Russia’s major
military newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star),
interviewed the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian
Navy, Admiral Vladimir Korolev, who provided a
glowing report on the navy’s status and plans for the
year ahead.

In the interview, Admiral Korolev pointed out
how the Russian Navy gained “practical experience”
in Syria, firing 100 cruise missiles on ISIS forces
and destroying “more than 1,250 targets of illegal
armed force elements” from operations in the
Mediterranean. The Admiral also mentioned the
Gulf of Aden and the African Horn as areas of
recent naval success, where Russia worked to
decrease terrorism and increase safety. He went
on to comment on Russian advances in the Arctic,
securing the region for the country’s economic development.

When asked about the strong history of the Russian Navy and its relevance to present operations, Admiral Korolev, who has served in his current position for two years, discussed the annual navy leadership operations conference. This year’s conference will include, in part, a scientific-historical conference to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet. Rather than focusing on current operations, “(at) the operational conference…we also will remember the centennial of the day the RKKA [Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army] and the RKKF [Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Navy] were established” by the Soviet government.

The Admiral paints a radiant picture of the Russian Navy’s continued development. As he explains, the increased financial and innovative focus recently placed on the navy are proved by the fact that “in just the last five years the figure for time spent underway in Navy combined formations doubled and the average time of missions performed by crews of submarines and ships at sea grew almost by a third. In short, the condition of the Navy always is checked fundamentally by its actions at sea.” Admiral Korolev cites the last five to six years as a time of immense naval improvement, including in naval aviation, submarine development, equipping 96 percent of coastal defense troops with cutting edge missiles, personnel training, rescue equipment, and other developments. Coincidentally, these years of development were overseen by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Krasnaya Zvezda published the interview a month before the 18 March election, which Putin won by a considerable margin. End OE Watch Commentary (Johnson)