A task force from Russia’s
Pacific Fleet, led by the Udaloy class destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov, has
departed on an new anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast, the fleet’s
spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Roman Martov said.
The task force, which also includes the Irkut tanker and the
Alatau rescue tug boat, will make an official visit to the port
of Mumbai in India
and conduct joint drills with the Indian navy on the way to the Gulf
of Aden.
“The Marshal Shaposhnikov destroyer has two Ka-27 naval
helicopters and a unit of naval infantry on board,” Martov said on Friday.
During its first anti-piracy mission in the Gulf
of Aden in 2010, Marshal Shaposhnikov freed a Russian tanker
hijacked by Somali pirates.
Task forces from the Russian Navy, usually led by Udaloy
class destroyers, operate in the area on a rotating basis.
Russian warships have successfully escorted hundreds of
commercial vessels from various countries through pirate-infested waters off
the Somali coast since 2008, when Russia
joined the international anti-piracy mission in the region.
Russia
has recently asked France
to allow the deployment of two Ilyushin Il-38 naval reconnaissance planes at a
French base in Djibouti
to facilitate its anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden.
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