Black Sea Fleet (BSF) large landing ship Caesar Kunikov representing Russia in the spring activation of the BLACKSEAFOR joint task naval group left Sevastopol on Apr, 5 and set a course for Constanta, Romania.
Recall that Russia took over command of that international task force in Aug 2011. Large landing ship Caesar Kunikov is the BLACKSEAFOR flagship accommodating the exercise headquarters.
The activation was officially kicked off on Apr 6 when all participating ships arrived in Constanta. The first exercise headed by the BLACKSEAFOR Commander Capt 1 rank Yury Zemsky (Russia) took place southwestward Crimea on Apr 5. The exercise was attended by Turkish frigate TCG Yavuz , Ukrainian minesweeper Cherkasy , Russian large landing ship Caesar Kunikov , small-size missile ships (corvettes) Mirazh and Shtil , rescue tug Shakhter , and hydrographic ship GS-86 . The ships practiced unscheduled rendezvous to assist a “distressed” vessel.
The BLACKSEAFOR spring activation is expected to last till Apr 24. Except for Constanta, ships of the Black Sea states will visit Sevastopol and Istanbul.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff , April 09, 2012; Image: flot2017