Russian Baltic Fleet ships en route to Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy mission.

A group of the Baltic Fleet’s warships led by the guard ship Yaroslav Mudry has passed through the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea in its long-distance deployment, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday. The Baltic Fleet’s naval group will arrive at the Indian port of Marmagao on December 10 to take part in the Indra-2019 Russian-Indian drills.

The Yaroslav Mudry patrol ship (Picture source: TASS)

Earlier, the ships that stayed within the Russian Navy’s permanent Mediterranean task force made business calls at the ports of Tartus, Piraeus and Limassol where the crews had a rest and replenished shipboard supplies. Besides, the crews held a planned inspection of the ships’ assemblies and mechanisms during their anchorage at the Mediterranean ports.

The warships embarked on their long-distance deployment from the Baltic Fleet’s main naval base of Baltiysk in the westernmost Kaliningrad Region on October 1 and headed for the Indian Ocean to take part for the first time in the naval component of the Indra-2019 Russian-Indian drills that will run on December 10-19. The warships are on their long-distance deployment in compliance with the plan of the Russian Defense Ministry’s international activity this year.

The Baltic Fleet’s naval group will arrive at the Indian port of Marmagao on December 10. The Indra-2019 drills will run at land and naval training ranges and at a military aerodrome of the Indian Armed Forces, involving about 300 troops from Russia’s Eastern Military District. The drills are divided into two phases. The first coastal stage will take place at the port of Marmagao on December 10-15. The naval phase of the joint drills will run on December 16-19 in the Indian Ocean.

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