SEVERODVINSK (northern Russia), April 15 (RIA Novosti) - A fourth-generation strategic nuclear submarine was launched during a special ceremony at a shipbuilding yard in northern Russia Sunday.

The Yury Dolgoruky, a Borey-class nuclear missile submarine, was built at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region. It will be equipped with the Bulava ballistic missile, which is adapted from the Topol-M (SS-27).

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said the Yury Dolgoruky was actually Russia's first new-generation strategic nuclear submarine in the past 17 years.

"You have accomplished a great deed as you have proved that our ship-building continues to develop and Russia is able to produce such unique armament systems," Ivanov told the Sevmash shipbuilders.

The first deputy prime minister earlier said the submarine will undergo sea trials in 2007 and will be fully equipped with weaponry in 2008. After that, it will become operational in the Russian Navy.

The submarine has a length of 170 meters (580 feet), a body diameter around 13 meters (42 feet), and a submerged speed of about 29 knots. It can carry up to 16 ballistic missiles.

Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant, with a fourth submarine on the future production schedule list.

President Vladimir Putin said in March last year that Russia's submarine fleet is a major component of Russia's defense policy, and that fourth-generation submarines armed with Bulava missiles would form the core of an entire fleet of modern submarines.