The Russian oil and gas industry doesn't need many tankers.
The vast majority of their exports use gas and oil pipelines because their main customers are geographical neighbours on land.
Why are you talking about bulk carriers for Titanium and Aluminium in Russia?
Russia produces roughly 40K tonnes of titanium per year. That doesn't even the fill cargo hold of a single Capesize bulk carrier.
Russia only produces 200K tonnes of Aluminium per month. Given some domestic consumption (say 50K), that fills a single Capesize bulk carrier.
If a round-trip takes 1 month, Russia's entire aluminium industry only needs a single ship.
There is no demand for large numbers of commercial ships for Russia, which is essentially a landlocked country.#
And why would Russia ever need to do a large naval force deployment from Europe to the Far East? Please explain the reasoning.
How long would a Russian surface fleet last on an expeditionary deployment, in the face of the US Navy? Please also think on this.
Nuclear submarines are just way more effective at sea denial, self-sufficient and more survivable than a surface fleet in distant waters.
The UK, Italy and France can afford to focus on the Navy because:
1. They don't face a military land invasion from their neighbours.
2. They are all part of the same military alliance (NATO)
3. And they currently are all part of a single economic/political bloc (the European Union), which is 10x bigger than Russia.
As for Ukraine, why on earth do you think Russia would let Ukraine join the EU?
The entire reason Russia invaded was because Ukraine voted to join the European Union trade zone, and erect new trade barriers against Russia.
So the European Union (with an economy some 10x larger) would eventually share an extensive land border with European Russia where the majority of Russia's population/industry/economy/trade are located.
Think about how the US economy is roughly 10x bigger than Canada, and how they share a border.
Because of trade and economic linkages, Canada is a resource appendage to the USA and cannot operate an independent foreign/economic policy against US wishes.
So Europe IS a threat to the economic and political independence of Russia, despite what you think.
In the military realm, the EU combined spends about $250 Billion on the military. Russia spends roughly 4x less on the military.
With Ukraine joining the EU, eventually NATO would expand to include Ukraine. We've seen this happen already elsewhere.
Remember Moscow is only 500km from the borders of Ukraine, which would presumably host US soldiers.
And why do you think Ukraine is on the verge of collapse?
It's just gone back to the normal situation where corrupt politicians milk the country for nakedly personal gain.
It was already a basketcase before Yanukovich, so nothing has changed.
But now the population have gone from a generally pro-Russian sentiment where Russians were once regarded as brothers, to one where Russia is now seen as an enemy.
I think that is enough of a disgression on this topic.
