ATHENS, March 23. /TASS/. The Russian Navy’s frigate Admiral Kasatonov has called at the port of Piraeus on occasion of the celebration of 200 years since the start of the 1821-1829 Greek national liberation revolution against Ottoman rule, Russia’s embassy in Greece said on its Facebook on Tuesday.
"The cutting-edge frigate Admiral Kasatonov of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet is visiting the port of Piraeus on March 23-25. The visit is part of the festivities on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Greek revolution," the statement says.
The frigate’s entire crew was inoculated with the Russian vaccine against the novel coronavirus, it said.
In February this year, the frigate Admiral Kasatonov already made a call at the port of Piraeus under the program of its first long-distance deployment. Its basic aim was to replenish supplies and demonstrate the Russian naval flag.
The Admiral Kasatonov is a Russian Project 22350 multi-purpose blue-water guided missile frigate built at the Severnaya Shipyard in St. Petersburg. The frigate was laid down in 2010 and floated out in 2014. It entered shipbuilders’ sea trials in late 2018 and became operational in the Russian Navy on July 21, 2020.
Greece is preparing to widely celebrate on March 24-25 the 200th anniversary of the start of the Greek national liberation revolution. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will arrive in Athens on Wednesday to take part in the festivities. He will also hold planned negotiations with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to discuss essential issues of "bilateral trade and economic cooperation in the energy, industrial, transport, cultural and humanitarian and other spheres."
Greece will hold a military parade in Athens on March 25 to celebrate 200 years since the start of the national liberation revolution against the Ottoman empire’s rule that lasted four centuries. Russia, France and Great Britain helped Greece in its almost decade-long struggle. A key role in the Greeks’ struggle for independence was played by Russia’s victory over Turkey in the 1828-1829 war when most of the Turkish army left Greece and was routed by the Russian troops in Eastern Anatolia and Bulgaria. Greece gained its autonomy in 1829 and full independence in 1830.