SEVASTOPOL, June 26. /TASS/. The Black Sea Fleet frigate Admiral Grigorovich is returning to its home base of Sevastopol after accomplishing its Mediterranean mission, the Fleet’s press office reported on Friday.

"The frigate Admiral Grigorovich is transiting the Black Sea’s Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits. The ship is returning to Sevastopol after accomplishing missions in the Navy’s Mediterranean permanent taskforce," the press office said in a statement.

In the course of accomplishing the assigned missions, the frigate’s crew made a transit to the Indian Ocean where it took part in Russian flag demonstration events, the statement says.

Under the plan of rotating the Black Sea Fleet’s forces in distant waters, the frigate Admiral Grigorovich was replaced by the frigate Admiral Makarov, which had earlier arrived in the Mediterranean Sea.

The warships like the Admiral Grigorovich represent a new series of Project 11356R/M frigates (the Project 11357 designation is also used). These frigates are designed to destroy enemy surface ships and vessels, submarines and ground installations, carry out patrols and defend sea lanes.

The frigates of this Project are armed with eight launchers of Kalibr-NK cruise missiles that are capable of striking surface, coastal and underwater targets at a distance of up to 2,600 km.

The warships of this Project are also armed with Shtil-1, Palash and AK-630M air defense missile and artillery systems, A-190 100mm universal artillery guns, torpedo tubes and RBU-6000 rocket launchers. The frigates also have a take-off and landing strip and a hangar for an anti-submarine warfare helicopter (Ka-27 or Ka-31).

Russian Navy’s Mediterranean Squadron

The Soviet Navy’s 5th Mediterranean Squadron served as a prototype for the Russian Navy’s permanent Mediterranean taskforce operating at present. The 5th operational Soviet Squadron dealt with the tasks of naval presence in the Mediterranean theater of operations during the Cold War period. Its main rival was the US Navy’s 6th Fleet. The Soviet Squadron was disbanded on December 31, 1992, a year after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

In 2013, Russia started to create a new operational Mediterranean taskforce. Russia’s new permanent Squadron is dealing with planned and urgent combat missions arising in the Mediterranean theater of operations, including warding off threats to Russia’s national and military security.