As part of this same construction program, the Russian Navy had received cruisers of similar size from abroad (ship Russian cruiser Varyag 1899 2 , ship Russian cruiser Askold 1900 2 , ship Russian cruiser Bogatyr 2 ), which were delivered between January 1901 and August 1902, and which were superior to Pallada class in several aspects, including their maximum speed of 23 knots .