The New York Times
MOSCOW — Russia’s global military ambition was on display Sunday when the country celebrated Navy Day with large military parades not only in St. Petersburg, but also on the banks of Syria.
The parades of ships, submarines and aircraft were held at Russian naval bases in Sevastopol, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, and at Tartus in Syria, where Russia is expanding its military presence.
The main parade took place in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city and home of the navy’s headquarters.
Aboard his presidential cutter, Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin, greeted crews of five ships and a submarine lined up for him in St. Petersburg’s Neva River. Thousands of viewers filled the city’s granite embankments.
Later, Mr. Putin disembarked onto the Admiralty Embankment to deliver a speech from a tribune.
“Much is being done today for the development and renovation of the navy,” Mr. Putin said. “New ships are being commissioned, the fleet’s combat training and readiness are being perfected.”
Russian naval sailors at the celebration in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Sunday. The Kremlin paraded its sea power from the Baltic Sea to the shores of Syria. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“Today, the navy is not only solving its traditional tasks, but is also nobly responding to new challenges, making a significant contribution to the fight against terrorism and piracy.”
Numerous ships then proceeded in front of the embankment, with new ones showcasing the continued modernization of the Russian fleet. In 2011, Russia began a large-scale overhaul, ordering dozens of new ships and submarines.
In Syria, seven Russian ships and a submarine took part in their own military parade just off the Russian military installation there. Fighter jets and bombers from the Russian Hmeymim air base flew above.
In 2015, Moscow intervened in the civil war in Syria, citing the need to fight terrorists while they were still far away from its own borders. The emphasis of the Russian effort, however, has been to shore up Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, one of Moscow’s few allies in the Middle East.
Mr. Assad did not attend the parade.
Russia’s presence in Syria also created a bargaining chip for the Kremlin in its conflict with the West over the annexation of Crimea in Ukraine and what American intelligence agencies say were its attempts to intervene in the United States presidential election in 2016.
On Thursday, Mr. Putin signed a law ratifying a deal with the Syrian government that allowed Russia to keep Hmeymim air base for almost half a century. The deal cemented Russia’s military presence in the region.
In January, Russia also signed a similar agreement over its naval facility in Tartus, where it plans to build a permanent base.
Large ships and submarines that could not enter the Neva River were lined up in the nearby naval base city of Kronshtadt, which guards the entrance to St. Petersburg from the Gulf of Finland.
In Kronshtadt, two Chinese ships joined the parade to showcase Moscow’s strategic cooperation with Beijing. The Chinese ships had traveled thousands of miles to take part in joint war games in the Baltic Sea.
China held its own military showcase on Sunday, with President Xi Jinping, who wore camouflage for the event, opening a public campaign to deepen his grip on power in a coming leadership shake-up.