Russian Navy's delegates to visit Sri Lanka on the solemn occasion

07.12.2010 Military delegation of Russian Navy command headed by undersecretary of Navy Main HQ Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev will visit Sri Lanka on Tuesday to attend the festivities related with 60th anniversary of Sri Lankan Navy, reported RIA Novosti referring to a spokesman for the Navy.

"Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev will give congratulations of Russian navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky to Sri Lankan Navy command", said the official.

Russian Navy's delegation will also participate in symposium named "Permanent defense and security at sea".

"Following activities will be held during celebration of Sri Lankan Navy's jubilee: naval show, international regatta of warships, inspection of foreign ships by Sri Lankan president, and naval parade (totally, the festival will host 26 ships from all over the world)", reported the source.

The visit of the Russian delegation will last through Saturday, Dec 11.

According to RIA Novosti referring to representative of Pacific Fleet (PF) Information Support Group, PF task group will also arrive to Sri Lanka on Tuesday; the unit is heading for the Gulf of Aden to take part in UN international anti-piracy mission.

The unit consists of large ASW ship Admiral Vinogradov, sea-going salvage tug, and tanker Pechenga. There are two deck-based helicopters on board Admiral Vinogradov; in addition, each vessel is reinforced with PF marine unit. The fifth PF task unit sailed off Vladivostok on Nov 17 to attend international anti-piracy operation.

"The task unit will call at the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka on the way to the Gulf of Aden. The visit is associated to 60th anniversary of Sri Lankan Navy", said the PF spokesman.

According to him, Russian mariners will visit the city hall of Colombo and military objects. Besides, they are going to meet with their Sri Lankan counterparts and provide them with familiarization tours on board the ships.

"The visit of PF warships to Sri Lanka will last till Saturday. Afterwards, having replenished supplies, Russian sailors will lay a course for their anti-piracy patrol zone in the Gulf of Aden", said the interviewee.

It was previously reported that in autumn 2008 large ASW ship Admiral Vinogradov became the first Pacific Fleet warship arrived to the Gulf of Aden where the anti-piracy campaign has been conducted for several years. Now the ship is dispatched to the region again to escort commercial convoys and protect them from pirates' attacks.

PF marines of the fourth task unit and crewmen of large ASW ship Marshal Shaposhnikov released Liberian-flagged tanker Moscow University with 23 Russian sailors on May 6 which had been captured by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The tanker carried 86,000 tons of oil from the Red Sea to China. None of hostages suffered during the release operation, ten pirates were captured and one was killed.