Russian Pacific Fleet warships begin business call at Thailand
SATTAHIP /Thailand/, April 24. /TASS/. A group of the Russian Pacific Fleet’s corvettes Rezky and Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov and the support vessel Pechenga have begun their business call at Thailand, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.
The Russian naval ships were welcomed on the coast by a military band of the Sattahip Royal Thai Navy Main Base and high-placed Thai officers. The business call by the Russian naval ships at Thailand will run until April 27.
"Any military contacts in peacetime are an important factor of maintaining stability and security in the region. We know well together with you that we view the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a central element of the entire security framework in that region. And we always support ASEAN’s central role in this regard," Russia’s Ambassador to Thailand Yevgeny Tomikhin told Russian reporters.
"We should now remember what the [Russian] president has said that we propose thinking over forming the Eurasian security framework because all the Western Euro-Atlantic formats have actually collapsed. That is why, political, military and technical contacts with countries of the Asia-Pacific region are very important for us,’ the ambassador stressed.
Long-distance deployment by Russian naval ships
The press office of Russia’s Pacific Fleet reported on February 3 that its naval group comprising the corvettes Rezky and Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov and the medium sea tanker Pechenga had commenced its long-distance deployment to accomplish assigned objectives in the Asia-Pacific region. Upon exiting the Zolotoy Rog (Golden Horn) Bay in the Sea of Japan, the naval group’s personnel conducted shipborne air defense drills and practiced readiness to repel an attack by a potential enemy’s uncrewed boats.
In the Peter the Great Gulf, one corvette took a Ka-27 naval aviation helicopter on its board. During the long-distance deployment, the Russian naval ships conducted a series of drills, in particular, an exercise to hunt down and destroy a notional enemy’s submarines and provide air defense at sea.
In February, the Rezky and the Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov took part in the multilateral naval exercise Komodo 2025 in the city of Denpasar on the Bali Island in Indonesia. In March, the Russian corvettes participated in the naval drills dubbed Maritime Security Belt 2025 jointly with combat ships of the Iranian and Chinese navies, following which they conducted a joint exercise with the Pakistani Navy in the Arabian Sea. In early April, the Russian naval ships successfully concluded the Indra Navy 2025 joint maneuvers with the Indian Navy.
