SEVASTOPOL, July 5. /TASS/. The Black Sea Fleet’s flagship Moskva is on its way to its home naval base after the Mediterranean deployment, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

"The Black Sea Fleet’s Flagship Guards Missile Cruiser Moskva and the frigate Admiral Essen are transiting the Black Sea’s Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits," the press office said in a statement.

The naval group is making a transit from the Mediterranean Sea to the permanent naval base of Sevastopol. In the Mediterranean Sea, the naval group accomplished tasks within the Russian Navy’s standing taskforce in the distant maritime zone, the press office specified.

"Upon their arrival in Sevastopol, the warships will replenish their stocks, carry out planned maintenance and continue accomplishing assigned tasks in accordance with the Fleet’s combat training plan," the statement says.

This has been the first deployment by the flagship Moskva in distant waters after its repairs and upgrade, the press office specified for TASS.

About the flagship

The missile cruiser Moskva entered service with the Soviet Navy in 1982. In the early 1990s, the Moskva [named the Slava at that time] could have been decommissioned. The warship re-entered service with the Russian Navy in 1999 thanks to assistance by the Moscow government led by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, following which it received its current name.

In the second half of 2015, the cruiser led the Russian Navy’s standing Mediterranean taskforce, where it was shielding Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Syria with its air defense weapons. On July 22, 2016, the cruiser Moskva was awarded the naval Order of Nakhimov.

The cruiser Moskva is the Project 1164 ‘Atlant’ lead ship. As its main armament, the warship carries 16 launchers of P-1000 Vulkan missiles with a strike range of over 700 km.