MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Ships of Russia’s Caspian Flotilla - the Dagestan guard ship and the Grad Sviyazhsk small missile ship - left the port of Makhachkala on Wednesday and put to sea for carrying out their tasks.

Russian ships will visit the ports of Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan and will conduct joint exercises with Kazakhstan’s Naval Forces, the Southern Military District’s press service told TASS.

“During the 20-day trip aimed at developing and strengthening international cooperation between the Caspian states, the ships are planning to make friendly visits to the ports of three Caspian states - Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan,” the press service said.

“During the visit to the Kazakhstani port of Aktau, the ships are expected to take part in the exercises for protecting sea lanes and the areas of maritime economic activity,” it said.

Last year the Russian ships and the ships of other Caspian states exchanged friendly visits four times. The Iranian and Azerbaijani ships visited Astrakhan Russia’s Volga region, and the Dagestan missile ship made an unofficial visit to Baku.