Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Ladny to participate in NATO's Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean

Patrol ship Ladny. The ship, with a displacement of about 4000 tonnes, is 123m long and 14.2m wide. She has a top speed of 32.5 knots and a range of 5000 miles.

Patrol ship Ladny will participate in NATO’s antiterrorist Operation Active Endeavour from 3 to 24 September and will return to the port of Sevastopol by 30 September 2007. Thus Ladny will be the second Russian ship to support NATO’s antiterrorist operation in the Mediterranean. A tactical memorandum on the participation of the Russian ship was signed in July 2007 by the HQ of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and NATO’s CCMAR Naples.

It was agreed that the basis for cooperation in the Operation would be joint action to counter terrorism. On signing the Agreement with NATO on 9 December 2004 in the form of an exchange of letters, the Russian Federation stated that it was providing support for the Operation, that it shared the aims of the Operation and that it confirmed its commitment to combating terrorism. At the same time Russia granted NATO ships involved in the Operation the right to conduct boardings of merchant vessels flying the Russian flag and confirmed that it would take corresponding action in its territorial sea to inspect ships suspected of involvement in terrorist activities or of transporting weapons of mass destruction.

NATO has been conducting its anti-terrorist Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean Sea on a regular basis since 26 October 2001. The Operation was NATO’s response to the tragic events of 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet joined the Operation in December 2004. The Operation involves surface ships, maritime patrol aircraft, submarines and speedboats. In 2006 Pytlivy of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet was the first Russian ship to participate in Operation Active Endeavour. Within the framework of OAE, Russian and NATO naval ships are together patrolling