Russian naval squadron makes port call

A Russian Navy contingent pulled into port in Manila on Nov. 16, 2021. Russian Embassy

MANILA, Philippines — A Russian naval squadron, consisting of five ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet, including two submarines, arrived for a port call in Manila on Tuesday.

According to Navy public affairs office chief Commander Benjo Negranza, the Russian Navy’s corvette Gremyashchiy, tanker Pechenga, support ship Alatau and the diesel-electric submarines Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Volkhov docked at Manila’s south harbor for replenishment of supplies and rest for their crew.

Negranza said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the crew members of the five Russian vessels were allowed to disembark. He did not say how long the vessels would be staying.

The Russian Navy’s port call in Manila is its seventh in President Duterte’s term. The last port call was in April 2019 when the Russian Navy’s antisubmarine ships Admiral Tributs and Admiral Vinogradov as well as medium sea tanker Irkut were in Manila for a five-day visit.

In October 2018, the Philippine Navy made its first-ever port call in Vladivostok, Russia with a contingent of 363 officers and crew aboard landing dock vessel BRP Tarlac.

The Russian squadron made the port call as the United States and Japan conducted their first anti-submarine warfare exercise in the South China Sea, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force announced on Wednesday.

Helicopter destroyer JS Kaga and destroyer JS Murasame with their embarked SH-60J helicopters, an unnamed Oyashio-class submarine, and a P-1 Maritime Patrol aircraft conducted an antisubmarine warfare exercise in the South China Sea with US Navy destroyer USS Milius and a US Navy P-8A maritime patrol aircraft on Tuesday.

Both Kaga and Murasame conducted an exercise in the South China Sea with Milius last week and also made a port call last weekend. Upon departure from Subic, the ships conducted an exercise in the South China Sea with Philippine Navy frigate BRP Jose Rizal.