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Russia’s maritime doctrine keeps focus on strengthening Russian positions among sea powers

A new provision of Russia's maritime doctrine covers "the Antarctic regional direction"

MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. Russia’s renewed maritime doctrine has kept its basic goal of strengthening the country’s positions among the world’s leading sea powers, Russian Security Council Deputy Chief Mikhail Popov said on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the new version of the country’s maritime doctrine on July 26, Russia’s Navy Day.

"At the same time, the national maritime policy goal has remained unchanged — to implement and protect national interests of our country in the World Ocean and strengthen the positions of the Russian Federation among the leading sea powers," he said.

The new version of Russia’s maritime doctrine "complies with the fundamental documents on Russia’s national security and is a key document of the national maritime policy," the National Security Council deputy head said.

When Russia’s maritime doctrine was drafted, it was supplemented with a number of principally new provisions that had become topical in the wake of adopting "these and other doctrinal documents defining the country’s military and maritime activity," Popov said.

Specifically, the new maritime doctrine has incorporated provisions on maritime transport, internal water transport and a new point on the functioning of sea pipelines.

Another new provision covers "the Antarctic regional direction," the Russian Security Council official said.

"Previously, the tasks related to the exploration of the Antarctic were referred to the national policy's Indian Ocean regional direction," Popov said.

"The national maritime policy has identified the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific, Caspian, Indian Oceans and the Antarctic area as the main regional directions," he said.

For the first time ever, civilian and military ship-building has been identified as a separate point in Russia’s national maritime policy, the Security Council deputy chief said.

"No doubt, it is hard to implement an independent maritime policy without the development of ship-building and the associated branches of industry," Popov said.

Russia’s renewed maritime doctrine also makes an emphasis on ensuring environmental safety in the exploration of the World Ocean and on solving the social problems of people engaged in maritime industries.