Vladimir Putin took part in the laying of a new nuclear-powered ship

On January 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin laid a memorial plaque on the future hull of the future nuclear icebreaker. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov tried to understand where he was: in the future or in the past.

A new nuclear icebreaker was laid down at the Baltic Shipyard. It’s called Leningrad. Maybe it’s a new maritime tradition to call new ships something that hasn’t been around for a long time. Not so long ago, an Arctic tanker at the Zvezda shipyard in the presence of Mr. Putin was given the name “Alexei Kosygin”, and nothing. Now “Leningrad”. I wonder if the inventors of names are looking to the past or perhaps looking into the near future?

We had to wait several hours for Vladimir Putin’s arrival. Journalists also toiled in a small tent pitched for them in the fresh wind, as did officials: Rosatom General Director Alexei Likhachev, VTB Head Andrei Kostin, Presidential Aide Maxim Oreshkin, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko.

But at first it didn’t seem like we would have to spend so much time at the Baltic Shipyard. Already at half past nine in the morning, the announcer at the ceremony made his way through the journalists stuck at the entrance:

– Please let me in!.. Yes, I’m on the list!.. Look: Nikolai Pozdeev… Pozdeev!.. Through “O”!..

There were seven hours left before the President’s passage.

As it began to get dark, he arrived.

Andrei Kostin and Alexei Likhachev were called down. They began to quickly descend the iron ladder. However, they immediately heard:

– Step aside, the “clean” ones are coming!

They, of course, stepped aside and saw that the Presidential Envoy to the North-Western District Alexander Gutsan and the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov were rising towards them (the day before, in Kaliningrad, they seemed, however, not so “clean”, but, apparently, were them).

We must pay tribute to Messrs. Kostin and Likhachev: they stood up in front of their colleagues as best they could and saluted them.

For the four participating in the ceremony, there was a sign announcing the start of the bookmark, which should be screwed to the future first compartment, and four beautiful screwdrivers.

The idea of ​​a nuclear icebreaker evoked mixed feelings. It will be able to break through 2.8 meters of ice at continuous speed and in deep water. That is, we have seen more powerful icebreakers. On the other hand, why is this one bad? Yes, wonderful.

Mr. Putin explained that “the mighty icebreaker will be another tribute to the memory of the immortal feat of Leningrad, the courage and unbending will of the defenders, the inhabitants of the city, who did not submit, overcame everything, withstood everything and crushed the Nazis.” That is, the ship was named, apparently, in memory of the past.

“Leningrad,” as the president said, will become “already the fifth ship in its series.”

– Russia today is unique, I want to emphasize this – unique! “The largest icebreaker fleet in the world,” added Mr. Putin. “And this is our huge competitive advantage.”

Alexey Likhachev (a nuclear icebreaker), who is no stranger to laying down everything almost without stopping (he just returned from Egypt, where the fourth power unit of the nuclear power plant was laid down), explained how the situation stands in general:

— The key issue for the development of the Northern Sea Route is Arctic shipbuilding. Here the Chukotka is on the slipway, the Yakutia is on the water, we are laying down a new icebreaker, and soon another one will be laid down. At the eastern shipyards of Zvezda, the super-powerful icebreaker Leader is being built (there is certainly nothing more powerful than this and is not expected.— A.K.).

Mr. Likhachev had already finished, but the president could no longer resist. He went back to the microphone:

— Alexey Evgenievich (Mr. Likhachev.— A.K.) has now said that more ships of this class will be laid down. In 2025, we will lay down another ship, an icebreaker of the same class, and we will call it “Stalingrad”!

It will only be the second year of the new presidential term when the “Stalingrad” sign will be laid. And Vladimir Putin will still have time to launch it. And lay a new one. And let him down…

And yet “Stalingrad”. It sounded somewhat defiant. This would have been more appropriate in 1952.

However, you won’t be able to find fault: in 2025 there will be a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, and try to find fault.

Andrei Kostin, the head of VTB, that is, the bank that recently took over the United Shipbuilding Company, asked the president to give permission to install a mortgage board on the first compartment of the future nuclear icebreaker Leningrad.

Almost everyone, including Valentina Matvienko, screwed in their screws with such dignity, as if in their first working profession they were fourth-class repairmen.

Only Alexander Beglov for some reason covered the screw with himself and did his job, as if hiding from everyone. This is how rich apartments are opened, rather than mortgage boards being installed.

Valentina Matvienko asked Mr. Putin why he was not wearing gloves, and said that she would give him gloves.

She didn’t ask him why he wasn’t wearing a hat. She herself was without a hat.

I don’t know what else touching to tell you.