Vassily Kashin, a senior research fellow of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, was quoted by the Voice of Russia recently as saying that Russian President Putin is likely to authorize the sale of the advanced Kalina-class submarine to China.

Viktor Chirkov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, officially announced that "Russia is currently designing a fifth-generation conventional submarine, dubbed Project Kalina, which will be fitted with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system." Production of the Lada class submarines are being discontinued.