The strength and quality of the Russian Navy started to improve during the 2010s. In 2012, as part of an ambitious rebuilding effort, President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to build 51 modern ships and 24 submarines by 2020.[17] Of the 24 submarines, 16 were to be nuclear-powered.[18] On 10 January 2013, the Russian Navy finally accepted its first new Borei-class SSBN (Yury Dolgorukiy) for service.[19] A second Borei (Aleksandr Nevskiy) was undergoing sea trials and entered service on 21 December 2013.[20]
A third Borei-class boat (Vladimir Monomakh) was launched and began trials in early 2013, and was commissioned in late 2014.[21] As of early 2022, five Borei-class boats are in service, along with three Yasen-class nuclear attack submarines. More vessels of these classes are building along with additional Lada and Improved-Kilo-class conventional attack submarines. The surface fleet is also being modernized, principally by introducing at least six new classes of corvette/offshore patrol vessels, a new class of frigate (the Admiral Gorshkov class), as well as new classes of amphibious ships and support vessels. In 2019, total tonnage of the Russian Navy stood at 1,216,547 tonnes.[22]
Invasion of Ukraine and losses
Slava-class cruiser Moskva, sunk in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
In 2022, the Russian Navy took part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, starting with the attack on Snake Island at the beginning of the war, at which the Ukrainian defenders told the Russian cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Black Sea; "Russian warship, go fuck yourself", before subsequently being captured by Russian forces. Moskva sunk on 14 April 2022 after a fire broke out and forced the crew to evacuate. The Ukrainian military reported that they hit the ship with Neptune anti-ship missiles, however the Russian military did not confirm this. The ship subsequently capsized and sank while the Russian Navy was attempting to tow her into port. The sinking of Moskva is the most significant Russian naval loss in action since World War II.[23] In December 2023, the Russian landing shipNovocherkassk was also destroyed after being hit by Ukrainian cruise missiles.[24]
On 31 January 2024, Ukrainian sea drones struck the Russian Tarantul-class corvette Ivanovets in the Black Sea, causing the ship to sink.[25][26] Two weeks later on 14 February, the same type of Ukrainian sea drones struck and sank the Russian Landing ship Tsezar Kunikov.[27][28] On 5 March, the patrol boat Sergei Kotov was also lost to sea drones.[29]