According to the press center of RF Defence Ministry, the missile cruiser "Marshal Ustinov", leading a detachment of ships and vessels of the Northern Fleet, will pass the Tunis Strait and enter the western part of the Mediterranean Sea today. The squadron includes the large anti-submarine ship "Vice Admiral Kulakov", the medium sea tanker "Vyazma", and the rescue tug SB-406.
During the crossing of the Mediterranean sea, the crews of ships and vessels conducted a planned air defense exercise using computer simulation of the tactical situation.
Earlier, the warships made business calls to the ports of Greece and Cyprus. In the Alboran sea, before the passage of the Strait of Gibraltar, the North sea sailors will conduct a drill on the anti-sabotage defense of a detachment of ships when parked on an unprotected roadstead.
Northern Fleet's missile cruiser "Marshal Ustinov" with escort of destroyer "Severomorsk" and auxiliary ships left the main base of the Northern Fleet Severomorsk on July 3 to participate in the Main Naval Parade in St. Petersburg. After the parade, the crews of the cruiser and auxiliary ships took part in "Ocean Shield 2019" Navy exercise.
For two months, the ship operated in the Mediterranean Sea, where it conducted a series of exercises, visited Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. In the Atlantic Ocean, Russian sailors made business calls at the ports of Praia of the Republic of Cape Verde and Malabo Equatorial Guinea.
At the end of November, Northern Fleet sailors conducted the first ever joint Russian-Chinese-South African exercise on ensuring the safety of navigation and marine economic activity. It was attended by frigates of the Naval Forces of the People's Liberation Army of China "Weifang" and the Naval Forces of South Africa "Amatola", as well as auxiliary vessels of the Navy of South Africa.
In the first decade of January 2020 the cruiser participated in the joint Nothern and Black Sea Fleets exercise as the flagship in the Black sea. The Supreme commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin was observing the action of the exercise from the command post of the cruiser
Since leaving the main base of the Northern Fleet — Severomorsk — the cruiser has passed more than 37 thousand nautical miles.