Putin to launch fleet refit program

Today in Vladivostok Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that "anabsolutely real for implementation" fleet refit program was being developedin Russia. Before visiting the Marshal Shaposhnikov antisubmarine vessel,he told journalists that this program "would not only enable us to preservethe fleet, but would also bring it to a new level to solve all currenttasks." The President admitted that "not enough funds had been allocated for theneeds of the Russian Fleet." "We forgot about building new ships," hestressed. In Putin's opinion, these are long-term plans, which will yieldtangible results in several years. .