Baltic Fleet's warship to visit Belgium

24.05.2010 Baltic Fleet (BF) large landing ship Kaliningrad will pay informal visit to Belgian port Zeebrugge during the cruise to the Baltic and the North seas, informed RIA Novosti referred to BF press service.

"Kaliningrad sails off Baltiysk on May 24. Led by Capt 2 rank Mikhail Kushnerev, the ship will perform a wide range of combat training tasks in the Baltic and the North seas, and pay informal visit to Belgian port Zeebrugge", said the source in Baltic Fleet.

Speaking of the cruise tasks, the interviewee mentioned damage control drills, air defense exercise, and alarm drill.

"All that is conducted to test shipborne equipment and to train crew integration", specified the representative of BF press service.

BF large landing ship Kaliningrad was commissioned in Dec 1984. About 10 times the ship was deployed for combat training missions in the Baltic, the North, the Mediterranean seas, and in Atlantic Ocean. Kaliningrad took part in withdrawal Russian troops from Germany, Poland, and Baltic states. Since 2003 the ship 5 times worthily represented Russian Navy at the BALTOPS international naval exercise.

As of 2009, large landing ship Kaliningrad was rated the best surface ship of Baltic Fleet.