05.02.2009 Russian Navy ships continue missions in far-flung seas.
The Russian antisubmarine vessel Admiral Vinogradov, under the command of Captain First Class Piotr Podkopailo, continues its patrol mission in the waters around the Horn of Africa. A few days ago, the ship escorted a convoy of five ships. According to Krasnaya Zvezda, a publication of the Russian Armed Forces, the Admiral Vinogradov escorted the Ocean Lane, flying the Liberian flag; the tanker Stault Confederation, flying the flag of the Cayman Islands; the tanker Maier Pheonix, flying the Singaporean flag; the Skalo, flying the Libyan flag; and the Stepan Dezhnev, under the Russian flag.
The first Russian ship to patrol the waters off the Somali coast was the frigate Neustrashimy of the Russian Baltic Fleet. The ship patrolled the waters in the Gulf of Eden for a long time, helping protect international cargo ships from the attacks of pirates. Despite the fact that the Neustrashimy has left the Gulf of Eden and transferred patrolling responsibility to the antisubmarine ship of the Russian Pacific Fleet Admiral Vinogradov, the commander of the Neustrashimy, Captain 2nd Class Alexei Apanovich, continues to receive telegrams and letters thanking him and his crew for a job done professionally and successfully.
The sailors of the Northern sea will now take up the mission. The heavy nuclear missile cruiser of the Russian Northern Fleet Piotr Velikiy has completed its visits of the Indian port of Marmagao. The ship sailed from the southern African coast through the Indian Ocean. All the details of the Russian-Indian military exercises Indra-2009 were clarified during the unofficial visit to the Indian port. Before entering the Indian port, the Piotr Velikiy conducted maneuvers with the Indian ship Deli. The maneuvers included drilling of interaction and communication.
Planned flights over the central part of the Mediterranean Sea (western part of the Crete island) from the deck of the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kyznetsov have also taken place. The sailors and pilots fully completed the set missions. The technical means and weapons systems of the ship are in good functioning order. The Admiral Kuznetsov continues its mission in distant seas.
Meanwhile, the guard missile cruiser of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Moskva successfully completed a visit at the Italian port of Messina, where it took part in a solemn ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the earthquake that devastated that Sicilian city in 1908. Russian sailors saved more than 2,400 lives in those events. The captain of the Moskva, Captain 1st Class Igor Smolyak, officers of the staff of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Mayor of Messina Giuseppe Budzanki, and the Commander of the autonomous military-naval command of the islands of Sicily Admiral Andrea Toscano, as well as the city’s elite, deposited wreaths at the foot of the monument to the victims of the earthquake.
After leaving the Messina Strait, the Moskva and the Italian cruiser Andrea Dorina conducted military-naval exercises that involved ship-based helicopters.