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Russian frigate leaves Cape Town to join drills with South African, Chinese navies

The naval maneuvers will run off the coast of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal in the Indian Ocean

Russian latest missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov Lev Fedoseev/TASS

Russian latest missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov

© Lev Fedoseev/TASS

PRETORIA, February 15. /TASS/. The Russian latest missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov currently in its long-distance deployment departed from the South African port city of Cape Town, the local vessel traffic monitoring service told TASS on Wednesday.

The vessel departed from the port and deployed to the open sea, an on-duty operator said. Meanwhile, Russia’s consulate-general in Cape Town told TASS that the missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov was heading for the South African port city of Durban on the coast of the Indian Ocean.

The Russian frigate arrived in Cape Town on February 13 to replenish supplies. Now the frigate will sail around Cape of Good Hope and leave the Atlantic waters. Durban is South Africa’s main naval base in the Indian Ocean.

In two days, the Admiral Gorshkov will take part in the South Africa-Russia-China joint trilateral naval exercise dubbed Mosi. The naval maneuvers will run off the coast of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal in the Indian Ocean. The active phase of the drills will kick off on February 25, the South African Defense Ministry told TASS. Prior to that, the participating sides will specify the objectives of the maneuvers and coordinate their efforts.

As the South African Defense Ministry told TASS, Russia will be represented by the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and the medium sea tanker Kama in the trilateral naval exercise while China’s participation will involve a destroyer, a frigate and an auxiliary vessel. The South African Navy will be represented by a frigate.

The navies from South Africa, Russia and China will exercise in the waters between the town of Durban and Richards Bay located at a distance of 87 nautical miles (160 kilometers) from each other. The first such trilateral naval exercise took place off South Africa’s southwestern Atlantic coast near Cape Town in November 2019.

Simultaneously with the naval drills in Richards Bay, a parade will take place on February 21 to celebrate South Africa’s Armed Forces Day. The parade will be reviewed by South Africa’s President Commander-in-Chief Cyril Ramaphosa. The South African Defense Ministry has not yet responded to a TASS inquiry about the potential format of the Russian frigate’s participation in the celebrations.

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