Admiral Vyacheslav Popov used to be a Northern Fleet commander until 2002, but was fired after the Kursk tragedy and got the job in the Federation Council, upper chamber of the Russian parliament. He said in the end of last year that completion of strategic Yury Dolgoruky and multipurpose Severodvinsk submarines is the priority. The former commander also underlined that the main budget resources of the navy in 2005 would be spent on research and development.