Russian officials blamed Ukraine for the attack and canceled planned parades on the Black Sea. But Russian officials at the main Navy Day parade in the Gulf of Finland off St. Petersburg appeared unfazed. More than 40 Russian warships and 3,500 sailors greeted Mr Putin as he boarded a white boat bearing the presidential coat of arms. Calls for increased activity around Svalbard will add to already heightened tensions over the archipelago, where Russia has a coal mining base, after Moscow accused Norway of blocking food supplies to its miners. Svalbard, 650 miles north of the Norwegian coast, is considered a strategic location as it is close to North America and also provides control of any potential shipping route in the Arctic Sea between Europe and Asia.
