MOSCOW — Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged Monday to continue an ambitious program of building new warships on a trip to Crimea, which Russia has annexed from Ukraine. Speaking during the keel-laying of two landing vessels at a shipyard in Kerch, Putin said that Russia needs a strong navy to defend its interests and "help maintain a strategic balance and global stability.”The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority amid tensions with the West that followed Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine denounced the move, saying on Twitter that “Russia's unauthorized construction of warships on sovereign Ukrainian territory, which it seized by force, violates international norms once again.”

Source: International New York Times July 20, 2020 17:03 UTC