KALININGRAD, May 22. /TASS/. A unit of marines of Russia’s Baltic Fleet has performed landing on an unimproved shore from aboard a hovercraft and supported the party with gunfire as part of a naval exercise in the area of Khmelyovka naval testing range, Captain 2nd Rank Vladimir Matveyev, the official spokesman for the Baltic Fleet said on Thursday.

"The crew of The Yevgeniy Koshechkov, the world’s biggest aircushion amphibious ship has successfully performed the tactical assignment to establish a party of marines on an unimproved beach near the Kmelyovka testing range," he said

The ship’s artillery simulated bringing down an aerial attack vehicle and an onshore battery of the simulated enemy and cut up a corridor for the marines. The landing party got to the shore on BTR-82A armored personnel carriers where it drilled a breaking through the defense lines of the simulated enemy, Capt. Matveyev said.

The Yevgeny Koshechkov and its twin, The Mordovia, belong to The Zubr family of ships and are the largest operational aircushion amphibious ships. They can move on land surface and swamps and drop landing parties deep inside the enemy defenses.