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Russia's Yantar shipyard to go ahead with building frigates for Black Sea Fleet

The Russian Defense Ministry has made a decision in favor of building a fourth, fifth and sixth escort ships of project 11356

KALININGRAD, August 11. /TASS/. The Yantar shipyard, on the Baltic Sea, will go ahead with building a second party of project 11356 frigates for the Russian Navy following a special decision by the Defense Ministry, the shipyard’s spokesman, Sergey Mikhailov has told TASS.

"The client — the Defense Ministry — has made a decision in favor of building a fourth, fifth and sixth escort ships of project 11356," Mikhailov said.

Yantar has resumed work to shape the hulls of two frigates — The Admiral Butakov and the Admiral Istomin. The manufacturing of sections for the hull of a third frigate, the Admiral Kornilov is underway. The ship’s frame will be laid in the autumn.

"The timetables for building a second three of ships in this series will be adjusted for the period the work has been suspended. The decision to suspend the construction was made by the Defense Ministry last spring," Mikhailov said.

The shipyard hopes the first two frigates for the Black Sea Fleet will be delivered in 2015-2016. The pilot ship in the series, The Admiral Grigorovich, is undergoing sea trials, and the second, the Admiral Essen, mooring trials. The third frigate, the Admiral Makarov is scheduled to be launched in early September.

According to earlier reports, the work on building a number of large surface ships for the Russian Navy had to be suspended in view of the need for identifying substitutes for the power plants that were to be supplied from Ukraine.