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Russian Baltic Fleet ships help immobilized foreign yacht in Gulf of Aden

The event whose details were released on Monday took place on January 21

KALININGRAD, January 27. /TASS/. The crew of the sea tug Viktor Konetsky on its deployment to the Indian Ocean as part of the Baltic Fleet naval group rendered assistance to a foreign yacht with four New Zealand citizens on its board in the Gulf of Aden, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

The event whose details were released on Monday took place on January 21 during the Russian-Japanese anti-piracy drills, the press office specified for TASS.

"The Baltic Fleet’s guard ship Yaroslav Mudry received a signal from the crew of a foreign yacht while implementing the program of the international Russian-Japanese drills in the Gulf of Aden. The yachtsmen requested assistance due to a technical malfunction on the craft’s board," the press office said in a statement.

Naval Group Commander Captain 1st Rank Alexander Mashinetsky made a decision to send the sea tug Viktor Konetsky to assist the catamaran-yacht. The Baltic Fleet specialists who boarded the yacht found a malfunction in the yacht’s electric power system. The personnel of the sea tug made a special protective device and installed it on the yacht, thus enabling it to continue its voyage. Also, the Baltic Fleet sailors transferred 100 liters of fresh water to the yacht at the request of its captain.

"After they got convinced that the travelers could safely continue their oceanic transit, the crew of the sea tug Viktor Konetsky switched to fulfilling the drills’ program. The entire operation to provide assistance to the New Zealand sailors took two hours," the Baltic Fleet’s press office said.

Currently, the Baltic Fleet ships continue accomplishing their long-distance deployment assignments, according to the statement.

The guard ship Yaroslav Mudry, the tanker Yelnya and the sea tug Viktor Konetsky 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 set off for the Indian Ocean. In December, the warships took part in the naval phase of the Indra-2019 Russian-Indian drills and in the Maritime Security Belt Russia-China-Iran naval maneuvers. On January 21-22, 2020, they held joint anti-piracy drills with the destroyer Harusame of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Arabian Sea.