Admiral Panteleyev returned to Vladivostok

21.10.2010 Pacific Fleet (PF) large ASW ship Admiral Panteleyev returned from Japan, having completed a 5-day informal visit; triumphant meeting ceremony was held in Vladivostok on Thursday, reports RIA Novosti.

Visit to the port of Hakodate (Hokkaido Island) was conducted in Oct 15-19 under command of Capt 1 rank Viktor Sokolov, PF Primorsk flotilla commander. Among other attendants were acting PF Commander RADM Sergei Avakiants, the crew's friends, relatives, wives, colleagues, and the military band.

"Visit to Hakodate was held under Russian-Japanese military partnership program. Main objective of the visit was strengthening of naval cooperation and bilateral contacts between mariners of our neighboring countries. Authorities and locals of Hakodate port displayed kindliness and hospitality towards our sailors", reported RIA Novosti citing a PF spokesman.

According to him, in Hakodate Russian delegation paid courtesy visits to the city mayor, the chairman of municipal assembly, and command of the local naval base. The host ship was Japanese destroyer Amagiri.

"The crew of Admiral Panteleyev had an interesting program in Hakodate. Pacific mariners got acquainted with the city's history and memorial sites. Russians gave a banquette for Japanese servicemen on board Admiral Panteleyev. Also, Russian and Japanese mariners played soccer and volleyball games", said the interviewee.

He pointed out that the recent event was the first visit of Hokkaido Island by Russian naval servicemen in the current century. In contemporary Russian history Japanese warships eight times called at Vladivostok and one time – at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. In their turn, Pacific mariners seven times visited the Land of the Rising Sun. They were guests of Maizuru, Yokosuka, Sasebo, Kure, and Tokyo. Recent visit to Japan has been the eight one.