Black Sea Fleet (BSF) large landing ship Caesar Kunikov headed by Capt 2 rank Sergei Larchuk left Sevastopol on Aug 8 and laid a course for Novorossiysk, Russia to take over command of the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (BLACKSEAFOR) from Romania on Aug 13.
BLACKSEAFOR headquarters led by BSF Deputy Commander Vice Admiral Sergei Menyailo will be deployed at Caucasus coast of the Black Sea (Divnomorskoye, Russia).
Command over BLACKSEAFOR ships in the next year will be put on BSF Deputy Chief of Staff Capt 1 rank Yury Zemsky . BSF large landing ship Caesar Kunikov was appointed the BLACKSEAFOR flagship; international headquarters will be based on her during the task group activation.
Navy commanders of Black Sea states are expected to arrive at Novorossiysk to take part in the ceremony; warships of BLACKSEAFOR participating countries will call at the port as well.
Sea phase of BLACKSEAFOR activation will start on Aug 16 after leaving Novorossiysk. Warships of the task group are supposed to visit Turkish port Trabzon and Bulgarian Varna.
[mappress]
Source: rusnavy, August 9, 2011;