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Putin in Arkhangelsk, to proceed to Severodvinsk

He will attend a ceremony marking the signing of contracts for the designing and construction of submarines of Yasen and Boreas class

ARKHANGELSK, November 9 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who arrived here on Tuesday, is to make a working trip to Severodvinsk on Wednesday. During a tour of OAO (public joint-stock company) Sevmash production association, he will attend a ceremony marking the signing of contracts for the designing and construction of submarines of Yasen and Boreas class, as well as the construction of a rescue boat, a government press service official said.

The contracts are to be signed within the framework of the State-placed defence order for 2011 and the 2012-2013 plan period in ensurance of the implementation of the 2011-2020 State armaments programme, under which about 4.7 trillion roubles have been assigned for a comprehensive reequipment of the Navy. Federal budget earmarks over 85,000 million roubles for the construction of nuclear-powered submarines, frigates, ship repairs, and the technical servicing of ships this year and over 93,000 million roubles in 2012.

Sixty-six contracts have been already concluded by now to an aggregate sum of about 77,000 million roubles, accounting for 90 percent of the entire State-placed order for shipbuilding in 2011.

The accomplishment of tasks set in the State armaments programme will make it possible to carry out a large-scale reequipment of the Army and Navy, and cardinally to renew the material and technical basis of the Navy. In the process, Russian enterprises will be key contractors in implementing defence contracts. In Putin's presence, contracts are also to be signed betwee OAO Lukoil and several contractor companies such as OAO United Shipbuilding Corporation, OAO Global Engineering, OAO Krasnyye Barrikady (red barricades), for the designing and building of priority facilities at the F. Filanovsky oilfield in northern Caspian: an ice-resitant stationary platform, a central technological platform, a housing module platform, a riser unit, and catwalks.

The Filanovsky oilfield, discovered in 2005, will be put into operation in 2015. The projected rate of production at the oilfield is six million tonnes of oil and 800 million square metres of gas a year. The construction and operation of the facilities at the Filanovsky oilfield will make it possible to create up to 5,000 jobs and provide work load for the shipbuilding and subcontractor enterprises in Southern Russia.

Vice-Premiers Igor Sechin and Sergei Ivanov, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, and Ni k ol ai Vinnichenko, plenipotentiary presidential representative in the North-Western Federal Dis trict are to take part in Severodvinsk ceremonies.

During the tour, Putin will also attend a ceremony in Arkhangelsk to unveil a memorial stele dedicated to the tercentenary of the birth of Mikhail Lomonosov.