MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. The program of Russia’s naval shipbuilding through 2050 should consider the need for vessels necessary to protect its economic activity in distant maritime and oceanic areas, Russian Presidential Aide, Chairman of the Maritime Board Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with aif.ru.

"Today our Navy performs the tasks of protecting maritime trade with quite a high strain on its forces. We need a far greater number of ships operational in distant maritime and oceanic areas and capable of acting autonomously at considerable distances from their bases," Patrushev said.

"In this regard, we will lay down corresponding requirements for the development of the Navy in the specified program of naval shipbuilding through 2050 that is now being finalized and will soon be submitted to the president who has already approved the Navy’s New Development Strategy and the program of shipbuilding for structures of the Federal Security Service (FSB)," he said.

The current situation shows that among all the military branches the Navy is the most powerful and at the same time flexible geopolitical instrument fit for its active use both in peacetime and at a time of an armed conflict, the Russian presidential aide pointed out.

"The presence of the Navy and the capability to defend our economic activity at sea, export our oil, grain and fertilizer are a condition for the state’s normal life," he stressed.