Russian Pacific Fleet ships end visit to Vietnam

HANOI, May 11 (Itar-Tass) -- A Russian Pacific Fleet task force on
Wednesday rounded off its visit to the Vietnamese port of Da Nang and
sailed off for its home port Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, a fleet
spokesman told Itar-Tass.
The task force consisting of the destroyer ship Admiral Vinogradov,
the Pechenega tanker, and salvage tug SB-522 called at the Da Nang port on
May 7. Da Nang was the last foreign port the task force called at on its
way home, where it is expected to arrive in Late May.
The task force finished its anti-piracy mission off the Horn of
Africa, which started in November 2010. Throughout the four months of its
anti-piracy watch in the Gulf of Aden, the Russian task force escorted 14
commercial convoys. This has been the fifth Pacific Fleet's task force
anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. The Admiral Vinogradov ship has
successfully completed this mission for the second time.
Addressing the seeing-off ceremony, an officers from the command of
the Vietnamese army's third naval district hailed this visit by Russian
warships and expressed the hope it will encourage further strengthening of
friendly relations between the armed forces and the peoples of the two
countries. He also said Vietnam hoped such visits will be regular.
From Vietnam, the Russian ships will deliver a memorial obelisk that
had been installed at a naval base in the Vietnamese deep-water port in
Cam Rahn Bay, formerly the largest Soviet base outside the country, before
it was replaced in 2009 by a memorial complex to commemorate all those who
died in the name of peace and stability in the region. It is here that
wreaths are laid in the memory of the victory in WWII.