Russian task force returns home after anti-piracy mission
07:51 21/05/2011
VLADIVOSTOK, May 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Pacific Fleet's task force led by the Admiral Vinogradov destroyer will arrive on Saturday in the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok after a successful anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast.
"The welcome home ceremony will start at 08.00 a.m. Moscow time [05:00 GMT] at the Golden Horn Bay," a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet said.
During its four-month-long mission, which ended on April 17, the Udaloy class destroyer, accompanied by a salvage tug and the Pechenga tanker, escorted 14 convoys of commercial vessels through pirate-infested waters in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa.
The task force has paid a friendly visit to a Vietnamese port of Da Nang while returning from the mission.
The Russian Navy has maintained a presence off the Horn of Africa since October 2008, with warships operating on a rotation basis. Russian warships have successfully escorted a total of 120 commercial vessels.
A task force led by Northern Fleet's destroyer Severomorsk will start patrolling shipping routes in the Gulf of Aden in June.
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