MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. The missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov has sailed to the Barents Sea for air defense and anti-submarine warfare drills, Northern Fleet spokesman Vadim Serga said on Friday.

"The missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov has entered the Barents Sea for accomplishing the second course assignment under the combat training plan. At sea, the crew will practice combat teams’ cohesion and accomplish a number of shipborne drills for air and anti-submarine defense and shipboard damage control on the move and in anchorage," the spokesman said.

The cruiser’s crew earlier made preparations for the voyage, checked weapons and the ship’s technical systems. After the drills, the Marshal Ustinov will return to Severomorsk.

The Marshal Ustinov is a Project 1164 missile cruiser. It was laid down on October 5, 1978 at the Nikolayev Shipyard and floated out on February 25, 1982. The cruiser joined the Northern Fleet on November 5, 1986.

It is 186 meters long and 20.8 meters wide and has a maximum speed of 32 knots and a crew of about 500 men. The cruiser is armed with 16 cruise missile launchers and also with air defense, artillery and anti-submarine warfare weapons.

The Russian Navy currently operates three missile cruisers of this type: the Moskva in the Black Sea Fleet, the Varyag in the Pacific Fleet and the Marshal Ustinov in the Northern Fleet.