HANOI, September 8. /TASS/. The Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet training ship Perekop, with cadets from naval academies and schools on board, visited the Vietnamese port of Cam Ranh as part of a navigation training exercise, the Russian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City told TASS.
During their stay in Vietnam, the sailors held meetings with the command of the Vietnamese Navy’s 4th Naval District, played a friendly volleyball match against a team from the Vietnamese Naval Academy, and laid a wreath at the memorial "In memory of Soviet, Russian, and Vietnamese military personnel and civilians who sacrificed their lives for peace and stability in the region." This memorial complex was unveiled in 2009 to replace a commemorative obelisk that had previously stood on the grounds of the military airfield at the Pacific Fleet’s logistics support base in Cam Ranh.
Russia’s Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Maria Mizonova, emphasized the special significance of Russian ships’ visits to the port of Cam Ranh in a conversation with TASS. "For our country, the port of Cam Ranh holds great significance. Beginning in 1979, for more than two decades, it served as a logistics support base for the ships of the Pacific Fleet and was the Russian Navy’s largest overseas base. It was here that the traditions of comradeship in arms and friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Vietnam took root and flourished," the diplomat said. "The visits by Russian warships to Vietnamese ports, which have become a regular occurrence in recent years, make an important contribution to strengthening the friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between our countries, helping to promote peace, stability, and security in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world," the Consul General noted.
