RUSSIAN NAVY TRAINING WARSHIP “PEREKOP” WELCOMED AT COLOMBO PORT

On the eve of the celebration of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, on April 18, a Russian Navy training ship “Perekop” docked at the Port of Colombo. It had set sail a month and a half earlier from Kronshtadton on March 1, on a training expedition with the participation of cadets of the

St. Petersburg Naval Institute – Naval Corps of Peter the Great.

There to greet the ship was Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Navy, Rear Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Sri Lanka, Yuri Materiy.

The military attaché at the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka, together with the Russian Culture Centre in Colombo had organized a photographic exhibition dedicated to the armed forces which depicted the important role of Russia in the settlement of the Syrian conflict.

The event was also attended by the Commander Western Naval Area, Rear Admiral N. Ulugetenne, the naval attachés of the embassies of Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, Sri Lankan Navy officers and cadets of local specialized educational institutions, activists of the Sri Lanka - Russia friendship society and the Association of Sri Lankan graduates from socialist countries, employees of the Russian Embassy, Russian compatriots and media representatives.

According to the commander of the ship Captain II Rank Vladimir Cherokov,

403 persons had arrived aboard the vessel “Perekop”, including 220 cadets and a crew of the Russian TV channel “Zvezda”.

Senior on the march, head of the St. Petersburg Naval Institute, Rear Admiral Vladimir Sokolov spoke about the ship and the purposes of the march. “During the trip the ship will visit four oceans and for the first time in its history pass along the Northern Sea Route. Over the next six months it will cover almost 22 thousand nautical miles. The expedition comprises eight business visits to foreign and Russian ports and it will participate in international exercises in the Pacific Ocean as well. After leaving Colombo “Perekop” will head for Jakarta. The final port-of-call is Vladivostok”, he explained.

The training warship “Perekop” is a part of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy and is equipped with modern radio-technical and navigational equipment as well as combat armaments.

Guests and participants at the event were given a unique opportunity to come aboard and have a closer look and learn first-hand about the ship’s history, look at some of the equipment among other features. “Perekop” departed from the Colombo Harbour on April 22.