A delegation of six personnel from the Russian Navy, led by Admiral Viktor Chirkov, Commander-in-Chief Russian Federation Navy, has made a historic visit to Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) at HMNB Devonport.
The visit to FOST included time onboard HMS Richmond during its Operational Sea Training. Admiral Chirkov was hosted by Rear Admiral Clive Johnstone CBE, who said: “It was a great pleasure to be able to host Admiral Chirkov of the Russian Navy at sea and to entertain him and his delegation last night. We enjoyed a particularly fruitful set of discussions and have set the conditions for further positive engagement for the future. I am deeply grateful to my staff at FOST and the Ship’s Company of HMS Richmond who set the positive tone of the visit. Once again we saw a Royal Navy full of exceptional people, gritty professionals and wonderfully charming hosts.“
It is the first major overseas visit for Admiral Chirkov and follows on from a Russian hosted naval exercise that took place in June this year. The programme covered Royal Navy manning and training regimes and how command and control, operations and capabilities are integrated into the Joint structure of UK Defence.
Admiral Chirkov started his career as the commander of a mine-torpedo unit of frigate in the Pacific Fleet. After attending the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces he subsequently became commander of the Baltic Fleet in 2009. He was appointed the commander-in-chief of the Russian Federation Navy in May this year.
Flag Officer Sea Training delivers collective training to ships of the Royal Navy and many foreign navies and involves a variety of packages from basic Safety Training to mission-specific Directed Training, to full Operational Sea Training, which welds a Ship’s Company into a cohesive team, able to fight using every aspect of their ship’s capability.
