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Russian warships are steaming towards the Atlantic Ocean last night at the beginning of a series of joint naval and aerial exercises designed to showcase Russia’s resurgent military prowess before the world.Against a backdrop of growing international concern over Russia’s rapid re-armament and its government’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric, naval cruisers and air-force jets will test-fire missiles in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea over the next three months.Defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Vladimir Putin that the manoeuvres would help consolidate the navy’s military presence in international waters.In themselves, the exercises-which will involve an aircraft carrier, anti-submarine ships and missile cruisers-will not cause international concern.Unlike Mr Putin’s August announcement that long-range nuclear bombers would resume sorties in international airspace for the first time since the Cold War, these manoeuvres have been extensively discussed with western nations.The Russian ships are expected to visit 11 ports in 16 countries.Yet the exercises also represent a signal of intent.While many western countries have cut back on military spending-so much so that a report this week claimed that the Royal Navy could no longer fight a major war-Russia has embarked on an aggressive policy to reverse years of military decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia’s defence budget has almost quadrupled in the past six years and the Kremlin has announced it will spend pounds 25 billion on building new ships.In 2003, three years after Mr Putin came to power,the Russian navy resumed military exercises in earnest-though often with embarrassing consequences.With Mr Putin on board, the SSBN Arkhangelsk twice failed in its attempts to fire a dummy missile during exercises in 2004.The Russian navy announced in August that the ship launched bulava nuclear missile would be commissioned despite misfiring during most of its tests.Mr Putin has a personal stake in rebuilding the Russian navy’s reputation after the sinking of the Kursk submarine, with the loss of all 118 sailors on board, during an exercise in the Barents Sea in 2000 caused the biggest crisis of his international career.As in the days of Noah....
