HANOI, September 8. /TASS/. The Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet training ship Perekop, with cadets from naval academies and schools on board, visited the Vietnamese port of Cam Ranh as part of a navigation training exercise, the Russian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City told TASS.
During their stay in Vietnam, the sailors held meetings with the command of the Vietnamese Navy’s 4th Naval District, played a friendly volleyball match against a team from the Vietnamese Naval Academy, and laid a wreath at the memorial "In memory of Soviet, Russian, and Vietnamese military personnel and civilians who sacrificed their lives for peace and stability in the region." This memorial complex was unveiled in 2009 to replace a commemorative obelisk that had previously stood on the grounds of the military airfield at the Pacific Fleet’s logistics support base in Cam Ranh.
Russia’s Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Maria Mizonova, emphasized the special significance of Russian ships’ visits to the port of Cam Ranh in a conversation with TASS. "For our country, the port of Cam Ranh holds great significance. Beginning in 1979, for more than two decades, it served as a logistics support base for the ships of the Pacific Fleet and was the Russian Navy’s largest overseas base. It was here that the traditions of comradeship in arms and friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Vietnam took root and flourished," the diplomat said. "The visits by Russian warships to Vietnamese ports, which have become a regular occurrence in recent years, make an important contribution to strengthening the friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between our countries, helping to promote peace, stability, and security in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world," the Consul General noted.
On Tuesday, the Perekop ship left Cam Ranh and headed for the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville. The Perekop’s navigational voyage began in July and will last until mid-December. In total, the ship is expected to cover about 30,000 nautical miles. Its route passes through the Northern Sea Route, four oceans, 14 seas, 23 straits, and nine gulfs. According to the voyage plan, the ship will visit 20 ports, including 12 foreign ones. Among the Russian ports are Severomorsk, Arkhangelsk, Nikolskoye, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and Vladivostok. The foreign ports include Cam Ranh (Vietnam), Sihanoukville (Cambodia), Maputo (Mozambique), Pointe-Noire (Republic of the Congo), Lome (Togo), and Conakry (Guinea).
Cooperation between Russian and Vietnamese navies
Cooperation between the Russian and Vietnamese navies has spanned more than seven decades. Vietnam, as repeatedly stated by representatives of the country’s government and military leadership, will always remember the unparalleled feat of the Soviet sailors who provided fraternal assistance in the struggle for national independence. During Vietnam’s struggle against French colonialism (1945-1954) and its resistance to American aggression (in the late 1960s and early 1970s), Russian sailors ensured the passage of cargo ships to Vietnamese ports, delivering weapons, ammunition, food, and medicines essential to the young Vietnamese republic as it fought against powerful adversaries.
In the current period of peacebuilding and development in Vietnam, ships of the Russian Navy continue, as has been the tradition, to make friendly visits to this Asian country.