The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Report: Russia plans navy bases in Libya, Syria,Yemen

In a sign of Moscow's growing foreign policy ambitions, military official says plan to be implemented within a few years 'without question'

Russia has decided to establish naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen within a few years, Itar-Tass news agency quoted military officials as saying on Friday, in a sign of Moscow's growing foreign policy ambitions. "It is difficult to say how much time it will take to create the bases for our fleet in these countries, but within a few years this will be done without question," a military official was quoted as saying. "The political decision on this question has been taken," the official said. A spokesman for the Russian navy could not immediately be reached for comment. A senior general said it was too early to name any foreign ports that could host Russian bases. "There are negotiations conducted with foreign governments. Such publications (on bases) may have a negative effect on the way of these talks," Itar-Tass quoted the Russian army's deputy chief of staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, as saying. The Kremlin is seeking to play a more assertive role in world politics and has been using its military to project its new-found confidence beyond its borders. Analysts have said that the Syrian port of Tartus could be revived as a Russian naval base. During the Cold War, the Soviet navy had a permanent presence in the Mediterranean, using Tartus as a supply point. Russian media reported that opening a naval base in the Libyan port of Benghazi was among the main issues discussed during Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's visit to Moscow in October last year. Nogovitsyn said it was unclear when Russian naval bases abroad could open. "No one can forecast when this problem will be solved," he told Itar-Tass. "We need permanent bases, and this is very costly. You have to thoroughly calculate it all." Russia had to vacate the Cam Ranh base in Vietnam in 2002 because its rent was becoming a burden for the state coffers. "Now we have learnt to count our money," Nogovitsyn said.

Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/Art...657463,00.html

Moscow confirms talks on foreign naval bases

Russia believes it is too early to name any countries where its Navy would like to deploy "basing points," the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces said on Friday. Russian media previously reported that Russia was looking at possible naval facilities in Yemen, Syria and Libya, among other countries. "At this stage it is too early to talk about the geographic location of the basing points. Negotiations are under way with the governments of the countries in question. Any premature disclosure could have a negative impact on the course of these negotiations," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said. He said earlier in January that the General Staff had backed the Navy command's proposal to develop naval infrastructure outside Russia. Russian military officials are also on record as saying Moscow could build up its presence in the Mediterranean to make up for the loss of its naval base in Ukraine's port of Sevastopol. Russia is set to leave the Sevastopol base when the current lease agreement expires in 2017. The base has been a source of friction between Russia and Ukraine in recent years, as Ukraine's pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko has sought NATO and EU membership for the country and Russia has accused Kiev of "unfriendly" policies over its Black Sea Fleet base. Yushchenko has called for the Russian navy's early pullout, tougher deployment requirements and higher fees, demands that have not been backed by his former coalition ally, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Russia-Ukraine tensions heightened after several Black Sea Fleet warships dropped anchor off the Georgian coast during and after the armed conflict with Tbilisi over breakaway South Ossetia last month. Russia's naval base in the Crimea currently has 50 warships and patrol boats, along with around 80 aircraft, and employs coastal defense troops. The Soviet-era Navy maintenance site in Syria named Tartus is the only Russian foothold in the Mediterranean. Russian media reports earlier said the facility could be turned into a base. About 10 Russian warships and three floating piers are reported to be currently deployed there, and Russia is expanding the port and building a pier in nearby El-Latakia. Russia also plans to equip its military bases in Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by late 2009. The chief of the Russian General Staff, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, said in November that the Russian military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be fully staffed with 3,700 personnel each by the end of 2009.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090116/119629941.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russian military spending to reach $125 bln by 2011

The state will earmark 4 trillion rubles ($125 billion) for arms procurements by 2011, including 1 trillion rubles ($31 billion) in 2009, the Russian prime minister said on Thursday. Vladimir Putin said the modernization of defense related enterprises would continue despite the global financial crisis. "The modernization of defense industry enterprises as well as the development of modern weapons should continue," he said. He added that federal defense programs need to be reviewed and "streamlined," in particular with regard to production volumes. Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said earlier on Thursday the state had earmarked $10 billion for 'core enterprises' and defense-related sectors of industry.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090115/119548847.html

In related news:

Russian Army looking for a few good men

President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree reducing the number of military personnel in the Armed Forces in yet another step towards a transforming the Russian Army into a professional, contract-based defense force. According to the new decree, issued earlier this week, by Jan.1, 2016, the Army and Naval Fleet will consist of 1,884,829 people, including civilian personnel. Military personnel will number 1 million, down from 1.3 million. Another major difference is that military personnel will consist largely of contracted soldiers, rather than conscripts. In February, Defense Mixnister Anatoly Serdyukov issued a directive to start creating educational groups in the St. Petersburg Military and Space Academy, the Moscow Military Command High School, and other cities across Russia. Each group will consist of 100 people taken from volunteer soldiers and conscripts. The educational groups will train professional sergeants, who will graduate after two and a half years in the facility. "After they complete the training, the contract sergeants will get a diploma for higher specialized education," the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta quoted General Staff Chief Nikolai Makarov as saying. "They will direct military collectives on a professional basis." Graduates from these educational groups will be used to staff military units of permanent combat readiness. The decrees are part of a federal program that aims to transfer sergeants and other officers serving in the military to a contract-basis. Today, most sergeants and many other officers in the Russian Armed Forces are conscripted. The program stipulates that by 2013 over 85,000 junior officers will be professional rather than conscripted. Earlier last fall, Serdyukov had announced one of the most radical measures to reform the army, slashing the officer corps to about one-sixth of its former size and introducing changes to the command structure. The move, announced in October, was deemed necessary but controversial, because it would involve officers who could end up losing their jobs. Later, the Kommersant business daily reported that Nikolai Markov had signed a directive on "the inadmissibility of divulging information on the reform of the Russian armed forces."

Source: http://www.mnweekly.ru/national/20090115/55364132.html

What future for carrier aviation?

Every time the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov sails to distant seas, it sparks a discussion on the future of aircraft carriers and their place in the Russian Navy. The latest sortie by Kuznetsov to the Mediterranean was no exception: on top of it all, it was marred by a fire aboard, in which a sailor died. Commissioned in 1991, Admiral Kuznetsov for a long time faced an uncertain future - the collapse of the Soviet Union and of military planning left it without a credible air wing. Instead of a 50 aircraft complement that its hangar deck can accommodate, Kuznetsov has fifteen Su-33 fighters, three to five Su-25UTG training planes, and ten helicopters. Another source of trouble is its boiler and turbine unit manufactured in Kharkov: it is not very reliable, while the rupture of ties with the former sister republic made its repairs problematic. As a result, Kuznetsov took up a permanent birth at ship repair yard No. 55 in Murmansk. Service aboard at that time was also difficult. But as time went on, things began to look up. Increased funding brought the ship back in line: technical problems were solved, pilots logged their regulation hours, while the ship itself was sent on periodic cruises to practise training missions. But ships are not distinguished for their longevity: even given a capital refit Kuznetsov is unlikely to last more than 30 to 35 years, or until 2020-25. Knowing lead times to construct ships and design aircraft, the question arises: what future is there for carrier aircraft? Without a replacement all cruises made by Kuznetsov and flights from it make no sense - the experience gained will be wasted. The answer to this question was given recently by the top officials of Russia and its armed forces: they said the country must start building aircraft carriers. This raises a series of questions, above all concerning the ability of the Russian industry to build an aircraft carrier now. Seeing the plodding way in which Admiral Gorshkov is being upgraded for India, Russian shipbuilders are unlikely to do without foreign assistance, and the Russian naval commander-in-chief's interest in French shipbuilding is understandable. Another thing to remember is that a carrier requires several types of planes, basing facilities, a trained crew, and a sea-going escort. At issue is not the building and commissioning of a hull several tens of thousands of tons in displacement, but of re-establishing a navy as a balanced fighting service provided with everything necessary for action. It will not take long to find out whether or not this country is capable of doing this: just a few years.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090115/119520664.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Sarkisian Praises Energy Cooperation With Russia

President Serzh Sarkisian praised Armenia’s close energy ties with Russia at the weekend after attending a meeting in Moscow of representatives of countries buying Russian natural gas. The meeting discussed Russia’s bitter gas dispute with Ukraine and the resulting disruption in Russian gas supplies to Europe. Sarkisian held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev later on Saturday. In his opening remarks released by the Kremlin, Medvedev noted with satisfaction that Russian-Armenian relations is a “more comfortable” subject for Moscow than its gas dealings with Ukraine. He described Armenia as a “reliable strategic partner of Russia.” “I think Armenia’s example is a really good example,” replied Sarkisian. “I said today and will repeat now that despite the fact that the price of gas [for Armenia] has been raised in the last two or three years, our gas consumption has increased twofold. We have no problems, and God willing, this will remain the case.” Armenia currently pays $110 per thousand cubic meters of Russian gas it imports via neighboring Georgia. Under an agreement signed by the Armenian government with Russia’s Gazprom monopoly in September, the price will rise to $154 per thousand cubic from next April and on to $200 a year later. That tariff will still be well below the prices which are paid by European Union countries and which the Russians want to set for Ukraine. Gazprom charged Armenia only $55 until an April 2006 agreement with Yerevan that left it in control of more Armenian energy assets. The controversial swap deal allowed the Armenian government to keep the gas price for local households and corporate consumers. Use of natural has grown dramatically in Armenia over the past decade parallel to the reconstruction of the country’s gas distribution infrastructure, which had fallen into disrepair following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Gazprom has a controlling share in the company that owns that infrastructure.

Source: http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...C038373038.ASP

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Let us all pray for the quick and thorough revival of the Orthodox Church in the Russian Federation.

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Russians Strengthen Their Faith and a Tradition With an Icy Water Plunge

MOSCOW — In the snowy silence of a Moscow park, a 26-year-old businessman named Aleksandr Pushkov stood naked except for his Speedo, a column of steam rising from his body. His clothes were piled under a tree, and he had just climbed out of a hole in the ice. It was his seventh year taking part in the Epiphany ritual: the trance-like preparation, the electric shock of the water and the 20- or 30-second wait for a feeling he described as “nirvana.” As cross-country skiers picked their way through the woods, Mr. Pushkov stood by himself, barefoot and steaming. The midday sun was just visible above the horizon, as white and remote as a full moon. Monday was Russian Orthodox Epiphany, and roughly 30,000 Muscovites lined up to dunk themselves in icy rivers and ponds, city officials said. The annual ritual baptism, which is believed to wash away sins, is enjoying a boisterous revival after being banished to villages during the Soviet era.

These days, it is a ritual with high production values. Several sites in Moscow were furnished with no-slip carpeting, heated tents and supervisors with megaphones. Politicians have seized on it as a photo opportunity; the theatrical ultranationalist Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky took his plunge this year at Bottomless Lake, a Moscow River tributary, flanked by 15-foot tubes of fluorescent light. “It has become a show — not only that, but a patriotic show,” said Boris F. Dubin, a sociologist with Moscow’s Levada Center. The immersion ritual satisfies a public hunger, he said, for “something that is truly Russian, ancient, real. For what distinguishes us from other people.” Whatever the reason, the crowds have been growing exponentially. A group of celebrants in Tver, on the Volga River, was so large on Monday that the ice collapsed and 30 people plunged into the water. Twenty-four of them required medical attention, and 11 were still hospitalized on Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry for Emergency Situations.

“Each country has something which is intrinsic to it,” said Aleksandr Gorlopan, 43, who was warming himself with a combination of hot tea and Captain Morgan rum. Mr. Gorlopan, who gave his profession as “traveler,” said the tradition dated back to the tiny Slavic tribes that scattered south from Scandinavia — nomads, he said, with “wild souls.” “We are made of water,” he said. “Without water we cannot survive.” Others were more earthbound in their explanations. Galina Burasvetova, a 50-year-old hairdresser in a red bikini, said she had first taken part in the ritual during an agonizing period in her life, when she was raising three children on a vanishing income. Afterward, she felt she had the moral strength to go on. “It is a way to overmaster yourself,” she said, as three young men wearing crosses whooped behind her — “It’s warm! It’s hot! It’s like steamed milk!” — and two construction workers, on their lunch break, laid down their tools and stripped naked. Vladislav Komarov, his heart-patterned boxers still sopping wet, gazed out at them all with the smile of a saint. Asked how he felt, he answered “hot.” “We are pagans in our souls,” said Mr. Komarov, 45, an advertising manager. “I have a fire burning inside me. I could say it is a pure fire. But who knows?”

Mr. Dubin, the sociologist, said the practice’s popularity had less to do with religious revival than with enthusiastic coverage by Russian television. But others said it proved that 74 years of Communist rule were unable to stamp out the tradition, which holds that a priest’s blessing temporarily transforms water into the River Jordan, where Jesus Christ was baptized. Even at the height of state atheism, said Father Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, “the lines for holy water were longer than the lines at Lenin’s mausoleum.” Recently, Father Chaplin said, he had come across a 1949 memorandum by an exasperated Soviet official, who reported that widespread deployment of militiamen was unable to prevent “tens of thousands of people” from taking part in the Epiphany baptism. The Soviet official, he said, “reported indignantly that in one place the militiamen also immersed themselves.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/wo.../21ice.html?em

[Haykakan]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

This reminds me of when i fell through the ice while icefishing.Luckily it wasnt too deep so i got out but falling into deep water can be dangerous becaus the clothing and the boots prevent u from swiming back up.A quick dip i think is refreshing as long as you are able to get dry and warm immediatly after exiting the water.

[KarotheGreat]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Armenian I wonder from what Pagan traditions it comes from?

[jgk3]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

That is pretty cool. They have this tradition also in some parts of Canada, not sure if it shares the baptismal connotation though.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Tests of Russia's new fighter must start in 2009 - deputy PM

The testing of Russia's fifth-generation fighter must begin in 2009 and the aircraft should be commissioned with the Russian Air Force in 2015, a deputy prime minister said on Wednesday. "I insist that the testing start as early as 2009, and the fifth-generation fighter must enter service with the Russian Air Force in 2015," Sergei Ivanov said at a meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission. Earlier plans set 2010 for the first tests of the new fighter. Ivanov said Russia was "nearing the end of the development of the first prototype of the new fighter." Russia's advanced multirole fighter is being developed by Sukhoi, which is part of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), along with India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), under a preliminary intergovernmental agreement signed in October 2007. Russia and India will simultaneously develop two versions of the combat aircraft - a two-seat version to meet the requirements of India's air superiority doctrine, and a single-seat version for the Russian Air Force. Russia's Sukhoi aircraft maker earlier said it had started to construct a prototype of the fifth-generation fighter, which will feature high maneuverability and stealth to ensure air superiority and precision in destroying ground and sea targets. The Russian version will be built at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft-manufacturing plant in Russia's Far East. Ivanov said on Wednesday that the aircraft manufacturing industry should review and adjust some testing programs and methods due to advanced nature of the new aircraft.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090121/119733326.html

Russia, China to strengthen ties in military aircraft production

Russia and China are set to boost cooperation in the sphere of combat aircraft production, the director general of Russia's Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer said on Wednesday. "China is one of the main customers for our [Russian] aircraft and today the Chinese Air Force has in service over 200 of our Su-27 Flanker and Su-30 Flanker-C jet fighters," Mikhail Pogosyan said. Pogosyan is on a visit to China with Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and is attending the 13th session of the Russian-Chinese mixed commission on military and technical cooperation. Pogosyan said that the commission is set to discuss the further development of cooperation in the sphere of aircraft production and particularly the licensed production of Su-27 and Su-30 planes in China. China has acquired 76 Su-27SK fighters from Russia since 1992, and bought a license for production of another 200 planes in 1995, in a deal worth $2.5 billion. However, the 1995 agreement did not include the transfer of avionics and AL-31F turbofan engine technology, and the Chinese manufacturers had to rely on the Russian supply of these systems. Pogosyan also told Chinese journalists that Russia would soon sign a contract with India to jointly develop and produce a fifth-generation jet fighter. "We plan to begin flight tests [of the fighter] as early as in 2009," he said. The Russian-Indian advanced multirole fighter is being developed by Sukhoi, which is part of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), along with India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), under a preliminary intergovernmental agreement signed in October 2007. Russia and India will simultaneously develop two versions of the combat aircraft - a two-seat version to meet the requirements of India's air superiority policy, and a single-seat version for the Russian Air Force.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20081210/118779793.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The military balance of Nagorno Karabakh

In early January, a number of Azerbaijani news outlets reported that Russia had, throughout 2008, transferred an estimated $800 million worth of military hardware to Azerbaijan’s rival Armenia. The story is murky, but an Azeri media organisation received a list of equipment allegedly supplied, including tanks and armoured personnel carriers, grenade launchers, ammunition, and rockets. At the time of writing, the Russian response had been mixed: some carefully worded denials from the Foreign Ministry, promises of clarification from the Russian embassy in Baku, and stonewalling from the Defence Ministry. Russia’s overall approach has been moving towards denial, but the lack of an outright, immediate statement has inevitably fanned the flames of rumour. The Azerbaijani armed forces allegedly put their forces on high alert in response. If the story is true, the implications could be significant. The peace process over Nagorno-Karabakh is in an extremely delicate phase, and Russia has recently gone to great lengths to depict itself as an impartial mediator. Any truth in the arms transfer rumours would destroy Moscow’s reputation as an honest broker and undo much of the tentative progress that has been recently achieved.

The military implications are also significant, since the size of the transfer would go some way towards redressing the huge growth in Azerbaijan’s armed forces in recent years. Precise, up-to-date figures are very difficult to come by, given the opaque nature of both countries’ defence sectors, the difficulties of gathering information on Armenian forces in Karabakh, and the rapid expansion of armed forces. But most independent estimates give Azerbaijan the quantitative edge over Armenia, particularly in terms of heavy equipment. A far more significant factor, and arguably a key reason for the lack of major combat since 1994, is the topography of the Karabakh region. The ceasefire line currently runs through rugged, mountainous terrain topped with multiple defensive lines which would favour the Armenian side in any war launched by Baku. Azerbaijan’s purchase of 25 Su-25 ground attack aircraft from Georgia and unmanned aerial vehicles from Israel should be seen in this context: as an attempt to maintain air superiority and therefore compensate for the difficulties of ground artillery in such terrain. Turkey has also offered to upgrade the Azerbaijani air force, alongside its other assistance in the fields of education and technical support.

The Russian 102nd Army base in Armenia has played a huge role in assisting and upgrading Armenia’s military so far. The base’s inventory of hardware was boosted in 2005 when Russia closed its bases in Georgia and transferred 370 pieces of equipment to the 102nd base. The forces at the base are militarily very significant: 74 tanks, 224 armoured combat vehicles, 60 towed artillery systems, 14 aircraft and the advanced S-300 missile system. Although the limited number of Russian personnel there would prohibit a large-scale deployment of this equipment, it is possible that the 102nd would, in the event of war, ‘lend’ the equipment to Armenia’s armed forces under the terms of the Russo-Armenian military alliance. There are also estimated to be huge – relative to the territory’s size – number of tanks and other pieces of hardware within Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. This allows Armenia to circumvent its restrictions on such equipment under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, although it has accused Azerbaijan of doing the same.

Georgia has a critical and often under-realised role in any potential conflict for a number of reasons. Firstly, in the aftermath of the August war it suspended most Russian flights over Georgian territory to the 102nd base, preventing the base from receiving critical military supplies: therefore the figures given for the Russian base should be taken with a pinch of salt. More broadly, as military analyst Roger McDermott notes, the transfer of any equipment from northern states such as Ukraine to Armenia could be blocked by Georgia, since they would have to be shipped through Georgian territory from a Black Sea port, although such a deal was confirmed in November.

Secondly, and related to this, Tbilisi will have to make a clear and difficult choice in any renewed war between Baku and Yerevan. Georgia has no interest in spoiling its ties with Yerevan, and has expressed interest in defence co-operation (for instance, on upgrading Armenian tanks in a Georgian plant). But these links cause friction with Azerbaijan, with whom Georgia has a close economic and political relationship. Georgia relies on Azerbaijan for its own gas supplies and for the transit of Azeri gas and oil through the BTC and BTE pipelines, which bring in vital transit fees for Georgia’s struggling economy. Supporting Armenia could lead Baku (in the name of ‘energy security’) to re-route its gas and oil flows through Russia. It therefore seems likely that Georgia would support Azerbaijan, perhaps closing its border with Armenia and leaving the country almost entirely isolated from the outside world.

Even if the rumours of the $800 million arms transfers are false, the Karabakh conflict is incredibly volatile. The military balance between the two sides remains difficult to assess, but its uncertain nature, along with the peace process, has managed to prevent either side from reigniting a major conflict. If Russia really has shipped such a quantity of equipment to Armenia, the prospects for peace are grim. This would raise tensions on the ground and give further weight to hawks in the Azeri defence forces who argue that Azerbaijan’s military is sufficient, and that Baku should strike now to liberate the occupied territories before Armenia can reinforce itself any further. Perhaps even more disastrously, the transfer would fatally damage Moscow’s reputation as an honest broker and would remove the constraining brake of the peace process from a highly dangerous arms race. Nobody – Azerbaijan, Russia, or Armenia - would benefit.

Source: http://www.today.az/news/politics/50191.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Two interesting developments.

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Post-Soviet security bloc to hold int. conference on Afghanistan

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will convene an international conference on Afghanistan in late March, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday. No concrete date was announced for the conference. Alexei Borodavkin, a Russian deputy foreign minister, met with the Afghan ambassador to Russia, Zalmai Aziz, on Friday. The sides pledged to continue developing Russian-Afghan cooperation in politics, trade and economics, as well as in the humanitarian sphere. The parties also noted the importance of the SCO, widely seen as a counterweight to NATO's influence in Eurasia, in "streamlining effective regional cooperation in countering the terrorist and drugs threat coming from Afghanistan," the ministry said. The SCO comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. The group primarily addresses security issues, but has recently moved to embrace economic and energy projects.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20090123/119776039.html

Russian destroyer leaves Baltic base on urgent mission

Russian missile destroyer Admiral Chabanenko left a naval shipyard in the country's Kaliningrad exclave on an urgent mission after having hurried repair work carried out, a shipyard spokesman said on Wednesday. "Admiral Chabanenko urgently left the Baltiisk naval base on January 20 after receiving orders for a mission of state importance," Sergei Mikhailov said. Following the statement, a Russian military-diplomatic source told RIA Novosti that the destroyer was heading to the Mediterranean for combat training. "The Admiral Chabanenko destroyer has received orders from Navy Headquarters to head for the Mediterranean to accomplish a number of combat training tasks," the source said, adding that it may continue to the Gulf of Aden. A Russian Navy source said earlier that the warship would join the Admiral Vinogradov missile destroyer from Russia's Pacific Fleet, which is currently on an anti-piracy mission in the waters off the Horn of Africa. Chabanenko docked for repairs at the Yantar shipyard on January 15 after its recent Latin American tour-of-duty. The original repair schedule, including the overhaul of the propulsion system, envisioned the work being finished by the end of February. The Northern Fleet destroyer accompanied the Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered missile cruiser on a tour of the Atlantic and the Caribbean, participating in joint naval exercises with the Venezuelan navy, passing through the Panama Canal, and visiting a number of Latin American countries, including Cuba. The Admiral Chabanenko, an Udaloy II class missile destroyer, entered service with the Russian Navy in January 1999. It is Russia's only multipurpose destroyer and is intended to be the counterpart to U.S. Arleigh Burke class ships. Designed primarily as an anti-submarine warfare platform, with a long cruising range and underway replenishment capabilities, Udaloy class ships provide support to surface task forces. The Udaloy II is modified by the replacement of the SS-N-14 Silex anti-submarine missiles by the SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles, reflecting a change in emphasis from anti-submarine warfare to surface combat.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090121/119739218.html