FRUKUS 2012 Ships to Visit St. Petersburg

26.04.2012 Ships participating in the FRUKUS 2012 joint naval exercise will visit St. Petersburg since June 29 till July 4 and moor at Lt. Schmidt Embankment, a Baltic Fleet's insider told Central Navy Portal.

Although full list of ships has not been reported so far, it is known that Baltic Fleet (BF) frigate Yaroslav Mudry will head for St. Petersburg from Kronshtadt.

The FRUKUS joint naval exercise is the annual four-lateral training activity aimed at practicing joint actions at sea within multinational task groups.

The exercise's history goes back to 1993. Originally, it had a name of RUKUS (Russia, UK, US). In 2003, France was invited to join the exercise. Since that time it is called FRUKUS and held on the four-lateral basis.

Through its history, the FRUKUS exercise has developed from series of negotiations into headquarter trainings, and in 1996 it turned into practical exercise at sea. It is held annually in one of the participating countries by rotation. In past years, it took place in different regions of the Atlantic (near France in 2009, Great Britain – in 2010, the USA – in 2011).