Russian military ships end friendly Baku visit

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Russian artillery ships have ended their friendly visit to Azerbaijan, which took place by a mutual agreement between the two countries, Azerbaijani defense ministry reported on August 16.

Earlier, three vessels of Russia’s Caspian Flotilla – the small artillery ships ‘Makhachkala’ and ‘Volgodonsk’, and the hydrographic ship ‘Anatoly Guzhvin’ – entered the port of Baku for an official visit.

The ships moored at a pier of the Baku Marine Station.

The small artillery ships ‘Makhachkala’ and ‘Volgodonsk’ are designed for close combat at sea and river sections.

Both ships, the crews of which consist of 58 people, are equipped with the MS-73 jet-rocket launchers, hitting targets at a distance of 30 kilometers.

The ships, with 80 missiles at their disposal, can open fire every 30 seconds.

Artillery mount of A-190 type installed on ships can destroy a target at a distance of up to 27 kilometers.

“Volgodonsk” has in its service one A190-1 type 100-mm gun mount, two AK-306 type 30-mm gun mounts, two MPTU type 14.5 mm caliber machine gun mounts, one “Gibka” anti-aircraft missile system, which can hit a target at a distance up to 8 kilometers, one “Grad-M” launcher.

Each ship is armed with five machine guns.

Representatives of Azerbaijani and Russian Navy met Russian warships.

During the visit, the crews visited the tomb of national leader Heydar Aliyev in the Alley of Honor and Alley of Martyrs in Baku.

A walk along Baku and a friendly football match for the personnel of the ship were organized.

Azerbaijan and Russia established diplomatic relations on April 4, 1992.

Russia is the main trade partner of Azerbaijan in the CIS. It also ranks first among the countries importing from Azerbaijan.

Prior to visit to Azerbaijan, Russian navy fleet has docked at the northern Iranian port city of Anzali in a bid to boost friendly maritime ties between the two countries.