Russia: Putin joins naval parade, promises navy new ships

President Vladimir Putin attended a Navy Day parade in St Petersburg on Sunday, using the visit to announce the Russian Navy will get 40 new ships and vessels this year.

The ceremony in St Petersburg and the nearby town of Kronshtadt featured 46 ships and vessels and over 4,000 troops.

Opening the parade, Putin said "The capability of our navy grows constantly. This year 40 ships and vessels of different class will enter service, and several days ago six more vessels for the far-sea zone were laid down at Russia's three leading shipyards."

The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority amid tensions with the West that followed Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Similar parades marking Russia's Navy Day on Sunday took place in the Far Eastern cities of Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk, Sevastopol in the annexed Crimea, seaport towns of Severomorsk and Baltiysk and the port city of Tartus in Syria.