The Russian Pacific Fleet's nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, armed with Bulava ballistic missiles, are a key strategic deterrent in the Asia-Pacific region, ensuring the security of not only Russia’s borders, but also of its allies, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Institute of Law and National Security at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, told TASS, commenting on the Pacific Fleet's exercise to defend its Far Eastern borders. According to him, the Pacific Fleet’s comprehensive naval drills are aimed at countering Washington’s policy of militarizing its proxies in the Pacific zone and flooding them with offensive weapons. Stepanov also noted that the use of new systems, including the Poseidon, which is to be deployed in the Pacific zone, is being developed. It was previously reported that the Russian Pacific Fleet began a naval exercise to practice the defense of the country’s Far Eastern borders. About 60 surface ships, submarines and support vessels, about 30 aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles of the Pacific Fleet’s naval aviation, as well as over 13,000 military personnel will take part in the maneuvers in the waters of the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Northwest Pacific.