MOSCOW, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia possesses the world's largest icebreaker fleet and will develop it further, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
On his visit to the northwest city of St Petersburg where the fleet is anchored, Putin said the nuclear-powered Vitus Bering was "the world's largest fleet of icebreakers, and (Russia) will work on developing the whole range of the vessels".
According to Putin, 90 percent of the ship has been built in Russia. He urged to sustain that trend in the future.
The 99-meter long icebreaker is designed to serve oil platforms off Sakhalin Island in the Far East. The vessel can also work as firefighting and transportation ship.
The ship's construction works have been completed in June 2012 by the Russian-Finnish joint venture Arctech.
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