KALININGRAD. Nov 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Mistral helicopter ship of the French Navy arrived in the Leningrad naval base on Monday.
"The visit will last until November 26," a source at the Baltic Fleet headquarters told Interfax-AVN.
Formally, this visit is unrelated to preparations for buying a similar helicopter ship by Russia, he said.
"The visit program is a regular event. Representatives of the Leningrad naval base command and officers will visit the ship," he said.
The ship will also be open to St. Petersburg residents. The French sailors will lay wreaths to common graves at the Piskaryovskoye cemetery in commemoration of Leningrad residents who died in the WW2 blockade.
Meanwhile, some experts linked the visit to the Russian wish to buy a similar ship or to acquire a license for building it at domestic shipyards. A visit of shipbuilders to the Mistral is not ruled out.