VLADIVOSTOK/SEVASTOPOL. Jan 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet are getting ready for large-scale exercises and long voyages scheduled for this year, a high-ranking official of the fleet headquarters said on Wednesday.
"Technical preparation of the ships and training of crews are in progress," the official told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He confirmed that a warship unit is getting ready for a voyage to the Indian Ocean.
"These are indeed the Marshal Shaposhnikov and Admiral Panteleyev large anti-submarine ships," the official said.
He would not disclose the date of the ships' departure. "The dates are fixed by regulatory documents. When the deadline comes, we will report on our readiness, and Moscow is to make the decision. Our goal is to make the ships and crews ready by the deadline," the official said.
Interfax-AVN earlier reported that preparations for the voyage to the Indian Ocean are to end in late January or early February.
The Black Sea Fleet is preparing for long voyages, too. "In particular, the Moskva missile cruiser, which is the Black Sea Fleet flagship, as well as the Smetlivy and Pytlivy guard-ships, a large landing craft and auxiliary vessels are getting ready for a voyage to the Indian Ocean," a spokesman for the fleet headquarters told Interfax-AVN.
The Moskva is docking at the Black Sea ship-repair plant. Other ships are going through technical preparations, and their crews are trained for the voyage. Special attention is paid to the sailors' health. Healthy people are needed for operations in remote seas," the spokesman said.
He stressed that February 15 remains a tentative deadline for completing the ships' preparation, nevertheless, the ships may put out to sea later.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters on January 15 that "we have serious plans for military training of all services of the Armed Forces, including the Navy." "There are plans to send ships to the Indian Ocean. But the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf are not the same thing," he said.
"This has nothing to do with plans or intentions to conduct or not conduct a military action. It is not related to Iraq at all," Ivanov said.