Over 50 ships and submarines of the Russian Navy are in combat patrol globally, the Commander of the Navy said recently.

“More than 50 ships and submarines of the Navy are currently in combat patrol in an offshore maritime zone,” Admiral Viktor Chirkov, Commander of the Russian Navy said in a statement commemorating the 319th anniversary of the creation of the Russian Navy.

The Admiral added that the oceanographic research vessel Admiral Vladimirsky is currently being prepared for its first journey to Antarctica in 30 years.

Russian Navy objectives, according to the Defense Ministry website, are to deter threats to Russia, protect the country's sovereignty, ensure Russia's naval presence around the world and participate in international military and peacekeeping operations.

Meanwhile, submarines of Russia's Northern and Pacific fleets recently launched ballistic missiles from the Barents and Okhotsk seas as part of a routine drill, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

“Strategic underwater missile cruisers Bryansk of the Northern Fleet and Podolsk of the Pacific Fleet launched ballistic missiles from territories in the Barents and Okhotsk seas,” the ministry's press service said in a statement.