Military expert Dmitry Boltenkov — on the importance of Russian ships' voyages to the Asia-Pacific region
Recently, ships of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) have been regularly making long-range voyages in the regions of the Asia-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean.
On February 12, 2026, the Pacific Fleet corvettes Perfectny and Sharp, together with the tanker Pechenga, left Vladivostok and set off on their next long-range voyage to the waters of the Asia-Pacific region.
On February 27, the detachment made a business call at the Malaysian port of Georgetown. On February 28, the corvette "Perfect" was available for free visits by local residents. The Russian Imperial Navy's Pearl cruiser was lost in this port during the First World War on October 15/28, 1914, and Russian sailors who died in this battle lie in local cemeteries. The very culprit of the Pearl's death, the German cruiser Emden, did not manage to live long. The Entente forces caught up with him and destroyed him.
On March 6-11, the ships visited the port of Tilawa in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. And in the period of March 17-18, the "Perfect" and "Sharp" made a business call at the port of Visakhapatnam in India.
On March 25, a detachment of ships arrived at the port of Chittagong in the People's Republic of Bangladesh with a business call. The crew will take part in commemorative events dedicated to the Soviet Navy's assistance in clearing mines and restoring the infrastructure of the Chittagong port during the formation of the young republic in 1972-1974.
After the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the new country of Bangladesh faced the fact that the waters of the port of Chittagong were mined and the water area was full of sunken ships. Soviet sailors carried out mine clearance, and also raised the submerged vessels.
Last year, Pacific Fleet ships also undertook a campaign in the Asia-Pacific region. In February – June 2025, the corvettes "Sharp" and "Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov" went to Asian countries, participating in a number of exercises and visiting a long list of countries. And the other day, the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov, which had been at sea since October 2025, returned to Vladivostok.
In recent years, the surface forces of the Pacific Fleet have been replenished with a number of corvettes. The large anti-submarine ship Marshal Shaposhnikov was upgraded into a frigate. A number of new ships are under construction, and the Admiral Vinogradov frigate is being upgraded. Judging by the fact that the Amur Shipbuilding Plant has announced a competition for "brides" (according to naval traditions, it is the "bride of the ship" who should break a bottle of champagne on board the ship on the day of its launching) for the Grozny corvette, this indicates its imminent withdrawal from the boathouse in April—May.
Completion is underway afloat in St. Petersburg and testing is expected to begin on the first frigate of project 22350 "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Isakov" and the corvette of project 20385 "Nimble" built for the Pacific Fleet. This means that crews have already been formed for them. Accordingly, there have been major personnel changes in the crews of combat surface ships. Other people took the place of the sailors and officers who left for the new ships. It is necessary to solder teams into crews where everyone understands each other perfectly. And you can only become a sailor, especially a military one, at sea.
No amount of basic training or work on simulators will turn a person into a military sailor and will not create a cohesive crew ready to solve any tasks. "At sea, at home, on shore— visiting," said Admiral Makarov.
It should be especially noted that the countries of the Global South in general and South-East Asia in particular have a positive attitude towards Russia, with the exception of exotic Singapore, which was included in the list of unfriendly countries. During all these visits, there is mutual acquaintance and cultural and sports exchange between Russian sailors and military personnel of the host countries, as well as with the local population. Meetings are also underway with Russian diplomatic representatives in these countries.
Replenishment of material reserves, water and food, as well as fuel reserves is also carried out.
At the same time, the Pacific Fleet ships, which have mainly represented our flag in the world's oceans in recent years, visit almost the same countries. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to expand the zone of presence to the countries of the Pacific region. And if Australia, Micronesia and New Zealand are unfriendly countries, then the situation is different with Latin American countries. Visits of ships with Russian flags to countries such as El Salvador, Honduras, Chile or Peru are not visible in the foreseeable historical past.
If the ships of Peru visited the port of Vladivostok, then our ships have been to this country only twice in history. So, in 1973, the Ivan Kucherenko floating base and the Vishera tanker made the first and only visit to Peru and Ecuador in the history of the Pacific Fleet, and in 1854 the sailing frigate Aurora entered the Peruvian port of Callao. And there are plenty of other countries to visit. In a country like Papua New Guinea, after Miklukho—Maklay, Russian sailors were seen only in 2018.
Such visits by ships are very useful from the point of view of the development of public diplomacy. The population and the authorities of the countries can look at the Russian sailors live and draw the appropriate conclusions.
"Very strong ties still remain from Soviet times. People find out that a Russian ship has arrived, and local residents are very interested," said Konstantin Livinets, commander of the Gremyashchy corvette, Captain 2nd Rank. And he stressed that the warm welcome at the ports of call was a stable feature of the route.
There is another important aspect of such trips and ship visits to foreign ports. Everyone can get acquainted with the products of the Russian military-industrial complex, both the ship as a whole and its types of weapons. The income item from military-technical cooperation is very important. And the Asia-Pacific countries have been actively rearming their naval forces in recent years. Indonesia is actively building frigates, both by itself and in Turkey. Literally, two multi-purpose patrol ships were outbid on the slipway in Italy. Accordingly, the demonstration of the combat and driving qualities of the ships may attract potential customers.
Well, do not forget that a warship is still a warship. During the campaign, he is ready to use weapons. Various attack and anti-aircraft missile systems and anti-submarine defense systems are deployed on the corvettes themselves. And if a task is received from a higher management, the ships can take up the tasks of ensuring national security. So, at this moment in time, when the US and Israel are fighting against Iran, our ships can participate in ensuring the safety of Russian vessels in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.
It is also very important that on March 4, another detachment of ships of the Pacific Fleet set sail, consisting of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky diesel-electric submarine, the Gromky corvette and the Andrei Stepanov tugboat. All these ships have been built in recent years. The boat joined the fleet in November 2019, the corvette in December 2018, and the tugboat in the summer of 2020. Perhaps this is the first cruise in modern history of a detachment of ships built entirely in Russian shipyards.
The editorial board's position may not coincide with the author's opinion.
