vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #551 / Special reports / Reading article...

The vessel HMS Echo of the British Royal Navy arrived in the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok January 9 on a working visit, which has become the first call paid by a foreign ship to the Pacific Fleet in the new year of 2007, the fleet’s press statement reported.

The survey vessel delegation, headed by the Commanding Officer, Commander Jeremy Churcher, was greeted by Pacific Fleet officers of the anti-sub vessel formation and its Commander Andrei Nelidin, the statement said.

During their stay in Vladivostok, scheduled until January 13, the British delegation will attend a number of official engagements, including a visit of protocol to the Pacific Fleet commandant and Vladivostok Mayor Vladimir Nikolayev. The British guests will also meet with Russian naval officers.

The British sailors, who are stopping over in Russia for the first time, are very impressed by the Russian cold, they said, news agency Prima Media reported. The crew does not even have shovels to clear up the snow on the deck since the vessel is not designed for navigation in cold seas.

The HMS Echo, the first of two multi-role hydrographic survey ships commissioned by the Royal Navy, operates in the collection of environmental and bathymetric data.

Since 1990, this has been the third visit paid by a British Navy ship to the Pacific Fleet.