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Russia sends Northern Fleet vessel to Gulf of Aden

The Northern Fleet's destroyer "Vice Admiral Kulakov" was on a training mission in the Barents Sea before heading to the Gulf of Aden.

A task force from Russia’s Northern Fleet, led by the destroyer “Vice Admiral Kulakov”, has departed on a new anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast.

Location

The destroyer left its home base Severomorsk on April 6. Before departure, “Vice Admiral Kulakov” was on a training mission in the Barents Sea as part of the preparations for the upcoming tour-of-duty in the Gulf of Aden, the fleet’s spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Vadim Serga said to RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

“It will be the first anti-piracy mission for the Vice Admiral Kulakov destroyer,” Serga said. Earlier the Northern Fleet’s vessels “Peter Veliky”, “Severomorsk”, “Admiral Chabanenko” and “Admiral Levchenko” have participated in anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden.

The Russian Navy has maintained a presence off the Somali coast since October 2008, with warships operating on a rotation basis. The new task force will replace a similar task force from the Pacific Fleet, which completed its anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast on Monday and set sail for its home base in Vladivostok.