Russia outlines militarization of fishing fleet and icebreakers, thebarentsobserver.com

“The revisions of the Marine Doctrine take into account changes in the geopolitical and military-strategical world situation,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov underlined in a meeting  in the government Marine Board this week.

The update of the strategic planning document comes in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine and its unprecedented isolation in international affairs. According to Borisov, the Navy is now becoming even more important for Russia. […]

According to the government, several “principally new aspects of the doctrine concerns mobilisation preparations and preparedness.”

“This will allow for the inclusion in the Navy of civilian ships and crews and provide functionality of maritime infrastructure in times of war.”

It is hardly a new phenomenon that civilian ships are given a role in national security preparedness, as well as military conflicts, and Russia has a long experience in applying non-military ships for military purposes. But the new federal document clearly prepares the ground for a more systematic approach. Läs artikel